Whether an application for substitution of a respondent who was dead when the Special Leave Petition was filed was maintainable, and if not, the remedy of the petitioner when he comes to learn that the respondent was actually dead when he filed the Special Leave Petition.
The remedy of an appellant, who has unknowingly filed an appeal against a dead person, is to file an application for presentation of the appeal against the heirs of the dead person afresh. If the time for filing the appeal was in the meantime over, he is to present an application, under Section 5 of the Limitation Act, therein explaining the delay in presenting the appeal afresh against the heirs of the dead person.
Supreme Court of India in Gurcharan Singh vs Surjit Singh & Anr decided on 2 November, 2012
The Calcutta High Court has taken a similar view in State of West Bengal v. Manisha Maity (supra) that Order XXII, Rule 4 of the CPC providing for the procedure for substitution of the heirs and legal representatives of the deceased defendants has no application when the appeal itself was preferred against a dead person. The Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court, however, has suggested that in such a case:
“The remedy of an appellant, who has unknowingly filed an appeal against a dead person, is to file an application for presentation of the appeal against the heirs of the dead person afresh. If the time for filing the appeal was in the meantime over, he is to present an application, under Section 5 of the Limitation Act, therein explaining the delay in presenting the appeal afresh against the heirs of the dead person. If he can make out sufficient cause for making the belated prayer, the Court may allow the same, amend the cause title of the memorandum of appeal by incorporation of the names of the heirs and legal representatives of the dead person and treat the appeal as a freshly presented appeal against the heirs.”
6. Thus, the aforesaid authorities are clear that where a party has been impleaded as respondent in an appeal but such respondent was dead before filing of the appeal, the remedy of the appellant is not to file an application for substitution of legal representatives of such respondent, but to file an application for an amendment of the appeal memorandum and in a case where such application for amendment is filed beyond the limitation prescribed for filing the appeal, the appellant must also file an application under Section 5 of the Limitation Act for condonation of delay in filing the application for amendment and if the Court is satisfied with the explanation given by the appellant for the delay, the Court can condone the delay and allow the amendment of the appeal memorandum.
