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10. A Three-Judge Bench in Balwant Singh & Ors. v. Anand Kumar Sharma & Ors. (2003) 3 SCC 433 has explained in what circumstances the duty cast upon a private party can be said to be mandatory and para 7 of the report reads as under :

7. Yet there is another aspect of the matter which cannot be lost sight of. It is a well settled principle that if a thing is required to be done by a private person within a specified time, the same would ordinarily be mandatory but when a public functionary is required to perform a public function within a time-frame, the same will be held to be directory unless the consequences therefor are specified. In Sutherland, Statutory Construction, 3rd edition, Vol. 3 at p. 107, it is pointed out that a statutory direction to private individuals should generally be considered as mandatory and that the rule is just the opposite to that which obtains with respect to public officers. Again, at p. 109, it is pointed out that often the question as to whether a mandatory or directory construction should be given to a statutory provision may be determined by an expression in the statute itself of the result that shall follow non-compliance with the provision. At page 111 it is stated as follows: