Highlighting the large backlog of cases and frequent adjournments due to lack of instructions to state advocates, the Bombay High Court imposed a cost of Rs 20,000 on the State of Maharashtra. The penalty followed the failure of Investigating Officer (IO) Avinash Mandale to appear during a hearing in a 2010 case, despite specific court orders.
A division bench of Justices Bharati Dangre and Manjusha Deshpande was hearing a petition filed in 2012, related to an FIR registered in 2010. The petition, dismissed earlier for default, was restored on November 26, 2024. During the December 3 hearing, the bench was informed that the first petitioner had passed away, and the case was now pursued by the second petitioner.
State’s advocate MM Deshmukh told the court that the investigation was nearly complete but could not answer specific queries due to Mandale’s absence. PSI Vilas Kothe, who was present in the court, informed the court that Mandale had been assigned bandobast duty in Talasari.
The court criticized the lapse, stating: “If [the IO] was entrusted with any other duty, he should have equipped subordinate officers with necessary instructions so the matter could proceed.” It observed that while maintaining law and order is critical, officers’ absence delays proceedings: “Without their instructions or cooperation… proceedings cannot leap forward, as we never intend to have one-sided decisions.”
The bench, under pressure to resolve the decade-old case, remarked: “In cases like this, pending before this Court for more than a decade, we are not unjustified in asking officers to cooperate… However, due to the IO’s absence, we are unable to proceed.”
Imposing costs on the state, the court directed it to recover the amount from the responsible officer or those assigning him other duties, calling the delay a “sheer wastage of judicial time
