How do the doctrines of laches and delay and of acquiescence operate where a right is not exercised for a long time?

A right not exercised for a long time is non-existent. Even when there is no limitation period prescribed by any statute relating to certain proceedings, courts have coined the doctrine of laches and delays as well as the doctrine of acquiescence and non-suited litigants who approached the Court belatedly without any justifiable explanation; and a party who stands by and sees another acting in a manner inconsistent with his right and makes no objection while the act is in progress cannot afterwards complain.

Tamil Nadu Industrial Establishments (Conferment of Permanent Status to Workmen) Act, 1981 — s.3 — Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 — s.12(3), s.18(3) — Settlement and undertaking — Delay, laches and acquiescence — Conferment of Permanent Status Act, 1981 — s.3 — Undertaking giving up the order — Benefit not revivable — Held: Workmen who execute an undertaking giving up their rights in respect of the order passed by the competent authority under the Conferment of Permanent Status Act cannot turn around and claim the benefit of that order after a lapse of years. (¶10) Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 — s.12(3), s.18(3) — Settlement unchallenged — Retrospective regularisation barred — Held further: Where the Section 12(3) settlement and the consequential regularisation order remain unchallenged, relief granted by the writ Court for retrospective regularisation on completion of 480 days is not in consonance with the principles of law. (¶12) Writ practice — Direction to dispose of a representation — Right of the litigant to be ascertained — Held further: A Court entertaining a writ petition merely to direct disposal of a representation must ascertain the right of the person approaching it; routine orders of that kind do no service to the cause of justice and serve only to restore a dead cause of action. (¶11) Doctrine of laches and delay — Doctrine of acquiescence — Right not exercised for a long time — Held further: A right not exercised for a long time is non-existent, and a party who stands by while another acts inconsistently with that right, making no objection, cannot afterwards complain. Writ order set aside; writ appeals allowed. (¶13, ¶16)

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