Haji KHAN MUHAMMAD AND Others vs FEDERAL LAND COMMISSION, AND Other
This petition for leave to appeal was filed 166 days beyond the period of limitation, accompanied by an application for condonation of delay. The core legal question addressed by the court was whether illiteracy, village residency, displacement or disruption caused by floods, and delay attributable to instructions given by counsel to collect additional documents constitute sufficient cause to condone a significant delay in filing. The Supreme Court of Pakistan held that neither the personal circumstances of the petitioner nor the acts or advice of counsel regarding the collection of documents provide a sustainable legal basis for condoning such extensive delay. The petition was accordingly dismissed as time-barred. The key principle laid down is that vague and insufficient grounds, including reliance on counsel's delay in gathering documents or general hardships like floods and illiteracy without establishing a direct, continuous legal disability, do not constitute sufficient cause for condonation of delay under the law of limitation.
- Does illiteracy and residence in a flood-affected village constitute sufficient cause for condoning a delay of 166 days in filing a petition?
- Whether delay caused by a counsel asking a party to obtain copies of additional documents is a valid ground for condonation of limitation period?
ORDER
1. MUSHTAQ HUSSAIN, J.--This petition has been filed 166 days after the expiry of the period of limitation. One of the grounds urged for condonation of the delay is that the petitioner is an illiterate person living in a village of Dera Ghazi Khan and was adversely affected by the floods where for he could not present himself in time to take the copy from the High Court,2. The other reason advanced is that he contacted his counsel on 4-10-1975 and he was then asked to obtain copies of other documents so that the petition became barred by time. Neither of these rounds is sustainable in the eye of law. This petition is, therefore, dismissed.