- (1.) Leave granted.
(2.) The Registrar of the Co-operative Societies under the Himachal Pradesh Co-operative Societies Act, 1968 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act') passed an award on 29-12-1989 mulcting the appellant with a liability of 2.62 lacs which includes interest also. This related to the shortage etc. noticed in the shops of which appellant was salesman for sometime. Appellant preferred a statutory appeal challenging the said award under S. 93 of the said Act before the authority concerned but there was a long delay of above six years in filing the appeal, and therefore, appellant filed an application for condoning the delay. The authority passed an award condoning the delay and admitted the appeal. The first respondent challenged the said order before the High Court by filing a writ petition. A Division Bench of the High Court of Himachal Pradesh quashed the said order as per the impugned judgment.
(3.) Normally the High Courts would be wary in interfering with an order passed in the exercise of a discretion conferred by law particularly when such discretion was exercised to enable a party to pursue his statutory remedy of appeal. No doubt the discretion has to be exercised judicially. There is again no doubt that the delay in filing the appeal was apparently very long. Nonetheless the High Court in exercising writ jurisdiction should have been slow to upset a benefit granted to a party in having his statutory remedy to be pursued by condoning the delay albeit its length.;