' KHALIL-UR-REHMAN RAMDAY, J.--- Riaz Shahid respondent being a Government Contractor was awarded the work of "Extension of Khamba Distributor of R.D.. 22456-32500 (Group "B") R.D. 28000- 32500: vide a letter dated 6-1-1986 which was followed by an agreement executed between the parties in the said connection. A dispute having cropped up in the matter of the execution of the said contract, the same was referred to the Superintending Engineer, Depalpur Canal Circle, Lahore on 12-5-1992 for settlement of the same as the sole Arbitrator. The said Arbitrator failed to discharge his obligations for more than two years and the Contractor consequently felt compelled to make an application to the Court of a learned Civil Judge on 6-12-1995 for revocation of the Authority of the said Superintending Engineer as the sole Arbitrator and for appointment of a new sole Arbitrator by the Court. This application was allowed and Mr. Muhammad Saeed Sabir, Advocate who was a retired District and Sessions Judge was appointed as the sole Arbitrator who commenced the proceedings to resolve the dispute.
2. A representative of the Department appeared before the said Arbitrator once and nobody pursued the matter in the arbitration proceedings thereafter, whereupon the said Arbitrator announced his award on 22-7-1997 which was filed in the Court of the learned Civil Judge on 18-8- 1997. The Department did not file any objections to the award which was consequently made a Rule of the Court on 23-5-1998.
3. The Province of Punjab through Secretary of the Irrigation and Power Department and the Executive Engineer of the Lahore Division of C.B.D.C. Filed an appeal in the Lahore High Court challenging the making of the said award as the Rule of the Court which appeal bearing F.A.O.
No,337 of 1999 was dismissed by the Lahore High Court through a judgment dated 27-9-2000 essentially on the ground that the same had been filed more than 1-1/2 years after the expiry of the period of time prescribed for the purpose and no reasonable explanation had been offered for condonation of the said delay except the inaction on the part of the concerned officers.
4. It is this judgment of the Honourable High Court which is now in question before us.
5. Nothing could be urged even before us which could justify condonation of the delay in the filing of the above-mentioned appeal before the Lahore High Court. As has been mentioned above, it was on 23-5-1998 that the learned Civil Judge had delivered the judgment which made the award in question the Rule of the Court and as has also been mentioned above the appeal had been filed in the Lahore High Court on 17-12-1999 i,e, after more than 1-1/2 years of the passing of the judgment by the learned Civil Judge. From the impugned judgment of the Lahore High Court it appears that it also was after one year and four months of the passing of the said judgment by the learned Civil Judge that the Under Secretary (Programming) government of the Punjab, Irrigation and Power Department granted sanction for the filing of the appeal in the Lahore High Court through his letter dated 21-9-1999. The Solicitor issued the necessary instructions to the Advocate- General for filing of the said appeal on 11-12-1999. It was held by this Court in the case of Central Board of Revenue v. Messrs Raja Enterprises, etc. Reported as 1998 SCM R 307 as under:-- "This Court has repeatedly laid down that so far as the limitation is concerned, the Government cannot be treated differently from an ordinary litigant. If in spite of having enormous sources and facilities, the Government continues to delay the filing of cases in time detrimental to its own interest, the opposite party cannot be penalized for its negligence."
6. The inordinate delay in the filing of the appeal before the learned High Court was only a result of gross negligence on the part of the Irrigation Department which sat over the matter for more than 16 months before approaching the Solicitor for the filing of the appeal. We find it absolutely impossible for us to condone such negligence on the part of the Government functionaries and no exception could, therefore, be taken to the impugned judgment of the Lahore High Court.
7. This petition is, therefore, dismissed. .
8. However, before we part with this order we must express our grave concern over the conduct of the concerned officials in the matter of discharge of their obligations and who were consequently, grossly negligent in protecting public interest. In the first place the Superintending Engineer of Depalpur Canal Circle was negligent in the matte for neither having conducted the arbitration proceedings for more than two years nor having informed the concerned parties of his inability to perform the said task. No interest was taken by the Department to pursue the proceedings before the Arbitrator which led to the passing of the award in question. The Department was again more than negligent in taking no steps to file an appeal in the Lahore High Court in proper time and took 1-1/2 yew's to do the needful.
9. This is neither the first time nor the only time when we have noticed such a misconduct on the part of the Government functionaries in the matter of protecting public interest. At times one gathers the impression that the concerned functionaries are in collusion with the private parties and permit the proceedings to go undefended and then file appeals and revisions etc. In the higher fora only to use the same to cover their illegal and dishonest designs. It is about time that the Government took stock of such-like conduct on the part of the Government functionaries which cause huge losses to public funds and property.
10. Send a copy of this order to the Chief Secretary of the Government of Punjab who shall took into the matter and then take proper action against the delinquent officials. He should also devise some mechanism and activate the same in consultation with the Law Secretary, the Solicitor and the Advocate-General amongst others to ensure proper pursuit of Court cases and other judicial proceedings so that public interest was properly pursued and protected.