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The Judgment of the Court was delivered by Vaidiyalingam, J. These three appeals, by special leave, are directed against the common judgment and order dated August 18, 1966 of the Calcutta High Court dismissing Civil Rule Nos 827(F) to 829(F) of 1966, which were applications 'filed by the appellant under s. 5 of the Limitation Act, 1963, to excuse the delay in filing three appeals against the decision of the Additional District Judge, Howrah, dated June 27, 1963, in three Land Acquisition Reference Cases. In this judgment we are referring the ranks of the.parties AS in Civil Appeal No. 821 of 1968. "Thee first respondent is the Howrah Municipality. The second respondent had taken a lease of about 21 bighas 9 kotas of land from the first respondent and respondents Nos. 3 and 4 have taken a sub- lease from the second respondent of the said area. The circumstances leading up to the order of the High Court may be stated : About 41 bighas of land situated in Salkia it Howrah were acquired by the Government of West Bengal for the purpose of utilising the same as market place at Howrah. After, the acquisition, the entire land was placed at the disposal of the first respondent the Municipality, Howrah, on th e specific condition that the said land was to be used for establishing a public market and that it would not be used for any other purpose without the permission of the Government. According to the appellant them was also an agreement that the land would be resumed in the event of a public market not being established within a reasonable time.

On June 27,1963, the Additional District Judge, Howrah, decided the three Land Acquisition References and made the appellant liable to pay compensation of the sum of about Rs. 16,00,000. The decrees in these references were signed on September 21 1963. According to, the appellant, when in the title suit No, 34 of. 1961, which has 'been decreed on July"21, 1961, it has being held that the State is entitled to recover possession of the entire area, the Award. made in the Land Acquisition Cases on June 27, 1963, in favour of respondents Nos. 1 to 4 is 'illegal and without jurisdiction as the respondents are mere trespassers, who have no right, title or interest in the lands concerned. It is the furth er averment of the State that in: view of the enormous amount awarded in the Land Acquisition References, the; first respondent is purposely delaying taking further steps in prosecution of first Appeal No. 135 of 1963. This attitude, the State avers, is due to the fact that if the Municipality is able to withdraw the huge amount of compensation awarded, it will have no further interest in prosecuting the appeal against the decree in Title Suit No. 34 of 1961.

The second respondent on the basis of the Award, levied exe- cution and the appellant filed objection on August 27, 1964 under s. 47 C.P.C. on the ground that the Award is not executable in view of the decree in Title Suit No. 34 of 1961. According to the appellant, the Department of Land Acquisition at Howrah did not known about the proceedings in Title Suit No. 34 of 1961 as the latter related ' to another Department of the Government. When the objections filed regarding the executability of the Award were rejected, the matter was referred to the Legal Remembrancer, West Bengal, for taking necessary action. It was on March 4, 1965, that it was discovered that the judgment of the Additional District Judge in the three Land Acquisition References had not been appealed against. As the reasons for the appeals not being filed, were not clear, they were investigated by the Legal Adviser of the State. On or about April 15, 1965, the State Lawyer in the High Court advised the State to move the High Court under Art. 227 of the Constitution to quash the judgment of the Addl. District Judge dated June 27, 1963 in the three Land Acquisition References, as the time for filing appeals had expired.

The High Court on July 7, 1965 issued notice to the respon- dents to show cause why the delay should not be condoned and the appeals taken on file. After the issue of the notice, the appellant, filed an additional affidavit on January 18, 1966 referring to the: relevant provisions of the Legal Remembrancer Manual in West Bengal regarding the procedure to be followed by its Legal Officer& in cases where appeals have to be filed. The State also referred to the letters written by the Collector of Howrah on December 18,1965 and January 5, 1966 to the Advocate, who was at the material time Government Pleader asking for his explanation as to why' the Government was not advised by him regarding the filing of appeals against the Land Acquisition References. On January-' 21, 1966, the High Court passed the following order "On the present materials before us we are not satisfied that sufficient cause has been made out to explain the delay of over a year and a half in filing of the connected appeals. Mr. Chakrabarty expressed his inability to produce better materials on information, at present available to him. In the circumstances, we have no option but to discharge these Rules. Liberty is, however, given to the petitioner to apply for reconsideration or modification of this order on further and better materials. There will be no order as to costs in any of these Rules."