Deepak Mawandia v. West Bengal Infrastructure Development Finance Corporation Limited And ORS.

27-08-2025 Item No.44 Subrata Bhattacharyya IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA Constitutional Writ Jurisdiction Appellate Side AR(C) WPA No.11504 of 2025 Deepak Mawandia -vsWest Bengal Infrastructure Development Finance Corporation Limited & Ors.

Mr. Vedatri Bhattacharya ...for the petitioner Mr. Raja Saha Mr. Sanjay Mukherjee Ms. B. Roy ...for WB Information Commission 1.

The second appeal filed by the petitioner before the State Information Commission is pending consideration for more than a year.

2.

Learned counsel for the Information Commission submits that the appeals are considered and disposed of chronologically in accordance with the date of filing.

3.

The explanation of delay to dispose the appeal by the Commission on the garb of chronological disposal of matters cannot be accepted by the Court. The statute has prescribed time limit within which the applications are to be disposed of. The appellate authority cannot keep an appeal pending for an indefinite period of time compelling the applicant to approach the Constitutional Court for relief.

4.

The second respondent - West Bengal Information Commission - is, therefore, directed to dispose of the appeal preferred by the petitioner strictly in accordance with law at the earliest but within

eight weeks from the date of communication of this order. The final order, once passed by the authority, shall be communicated to the petitioner without any delay.

5.

All parties are to act on the server copy of this order duly downloaded from the official website of this Court.

6.

Certified copy of this order, if applied for, shall be made available to the parties.

[Amrita Sinha, J]