Against the judgment and order of conviction and sentence passed by the trial court convicting the respondent-accused for the offences under sections 307 and 324 IPC and sentenced him to suffer 3 years R.I. with fine for offence under section 307 IPC. The State of Gujarat has preferred above appeal for enhancement of sentence. The said appeal is time barred by 27 days. To condone the same this application is filed.
In para 3 of this application, it has been stated that the judgment and order of conviction and sentence was passed on 22.5.2000 and on that very day certified copy of the judgment was applied by the learned APP, which was ready on 5.7.2000 and received on 18.7.200. Last date for filing appeal was 1.9.2000. In spite of that the proposal was forwarded by learned APP to the Legal Department only on 6.9.2000 i.e. after expiry of period of limitation. In such type of cases, no explanation whatsoever is given and it is unfortunate that no action is taken against such APP. The Hon'ble Supreme Court in case of P.K. Ramchandran Vs. State of Kerala reported in AIR 1998 SC 2276 has clearly observed that the Limitation Act should apply with its full rigour. It may be harsh to other party but delay cannot be condoned if it is not properly explained.
It is true that the learned Trial Judge while convicting the respondent-accused for the offences under Section 307 IPC imposed only 3 years R.I. but when I am prima facie satisfied that he has exercised his discretion properly, then sentence of 3 years on facts of this case cannot be said to be too lenient which is required to be enhanced by this court in the above enhancement appeal.
In view of the above discussion, this application for condonation is rejected.
(B.J.Shethna, J.) *Pvv