The Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court has held that an appellate authority cannot examine a time-barred appeal on merits without first deciding whether the delay should be condoned.
Justice Shahzad Azeem delivered the ruling on November 3 in Prem Singh v. UT of J&K and others, concerning a land mutation in Kathua based on a civil court decree.
The mutation was attested in January 2011 and challenged in February 2013. The Deputy Commissioner set it aside without addressing limitation. The Divisional Commissioner and Financial Commissioner upheld that decision.
The High Court noted that Section 22 of the J&K Agrarian Reforms Act, 1976 prescribes a 60-day appeal period, with delay condonable upon sufficient cause.
“Only after the delay is condoned does the authority acquire the jurisdiction to examine the merits,” the Court held.
Finding a jurisdictional error, the Court set aside the Divisional Commissioner’s and Financial Commissioner’s orders. It directed the Deputy Commissioner, Kathua, to decide limitation afresh and examine the merits only if the delay is condoned.
The Court expressly declined to decide the merits of the underlying land dispute.
Case — WP(C) No. 24/2023