1987 SCMR 1413

MUHAMMAD AFZAL BUTT vs THE DIRECTOR GENERAL, AUDIT & ACCOUNTS

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Citation1987 SCMR 1413

CourtSupreme Court of Pakistan

Case No.Civil Petition for Leave to Appeal No. 63 of 1987 Appeal No. 208/1

Date1987-06-02

Judge(s)Aslam Riaz Hussain, Javid 1qbal and Saad Saood Jan

Authored byJavid Iqbal

ResultPetition dismissed

Summary

The petitioner sought leave to appeal against an order of the Federal Service Tribunal, which had dismissed his appeal against compulsory retirement as time-barred. The petitioner was compulsorily retired from service under the Civil Servants Act, 1973, in December 1984. Following the rejection of his departmental representation in January 1985, the petitioner failed to file an appeal before the Tribunal until July 1986, resulting in a delay of approximately one and a half years. Crucially, the petitioner failed to provide any explanation for this significant delay and did not file an application for the condonation of delay. The Supreme Court observed that the appeal was hopelessly time-barred and that no question of law had been raised to warrant interference. Consequently, the Court held that in the absence of any justification for the delay or a valid legal question, there were no grounds to interfere with the Tribunal's decision. The petition for leave to appeal was accordingly dismissed.

Questions settled in this judgment

Can an appeal filed before the Federal Service Tribunal be entertained if it is significantly time-barred without an application for condonation of delay?
Is a petition for leave to appeal maintainable when no question of law is raised?

Laws & provisions referred

Section 13(ii), Civil Servants Act 1973

compulsory retirementtime-barred appealcondonation of delayservice tribunalleave to appeallimitation

ORDER

1. JAVID IQBAL, J.-- In this petition leave to appeal is being sought against the order, dated 29th December, 1986 passed by the Federal Service Tribunal.

2. The petitioner was compulsorily retired from service under section 13 (ii) of the Civil Servants Act, 1973, by order, dated 16th December, 1984. He made a representation against his compulsory retirement which was rejected on 31st January, 1985. Thereafter, he did not file appeal before the Tribunal until 23rd July, 1986 and consequently his appeal was dismissed being time-barred as it had been filed after about 1 -- year. There was even no application for the condonation of delay.

3. Learned counsel for the petitioner was unable to explain as to why his client had filed an appeal before the Tribunal which was hopelessly time-barred. No question of law has been raised in this case, and, therefore, there is no ground for interference. The petition is dismissed.