High Court condones 77-day delay in Kinkhede Layout case, imposes Rs 5,000 costs

The High Court has condoned a 77-day delay in filing a civil revision application in a case involving the Kinkhede Layout Plot Holders Association. Justice Y.G. Khobragade gave the ruling after a lengthy hearing, and attached a condition to the condonation.

The court said the other side had suffered inconvenience because of the delay. The petitioner has therefore been asked to pay costs of Rs 5,000, which must be paid to the Kinkhede Layout Plot Holders Association within one week. The court made clear that the matter should be listed for hearing only after the costs are paid.

The civil application was filed by Vivek Raghunath Khanjode. According to the application, he is a citizen of the United States. He had executed a power of attorney in favour of his father, Raghunath Khanjode, who is also a United States citizen.

The application stated that after the document was prepared, it took time to get it attested by the embassy. Sending it on to his advocate in Nagpur also took time. This, it said, caused the 77-day delay in filing the civil revision application.

The application challenges an order of 25 March 2026 passed by the Second Additional Judge of the Small Causes Court, Nagpur. The application for condonation of delay explained the reasons for the delay in filing the revision against this order.

Advocate Chinmay Dharmadhikari appeared for the petitioner. Advocate A.G. Shitut appeared for the association, which strongly opposed condonation of the delay. The other non-petitioner asked the court to pass an appropriate order.

The High Court considered the reasons given in the application and the petitioner's grievance. It then held that condoning the 77-day delay was justified. Because the delay caused inconvenience to non-petitioner No. 1, the condition of Rs 5,000 in costs was imposed.