New Delhi, Oct. 11 -- The Supreme Court has hailed a 2025 judgment authored by Justice JB Pardiwala as the "last nail in the coffin" of its 1987 ruling that it said has been repeatedly invoked to secure condonation of delay, warning that an overly liberal approach to limitation has kept the country "driven back" for decades by allowing litigation to continue despite inordinate delays.

A bench of justices Dipankar Datta and Sheel Nagu on Friday criticised the Supreme Court's decision in Collector, Land Acquisition, Anantnag Vs Mst Katiji, which condoned a delay of just four days in filing an appeal, saying the judgment had since been treated as a "panacea" for virtually every application seeking condonation of delay.

"Nobody considers wh...