A party who prays for condonation of delay under Section 5 of the Limitation Act, 1963 has to establish…

The applicant must show "sufficient cause" under section 5 of the Limitation Act, 1963. Vigilance, absence of negligence and bona fides are all relevant to that assessment, so all the listed considerations must be shown. They are not rigid formulae: courts assess the whole explanation, as N. Balakrishnan v M. Krishnamurthy (1998) shows, and do not reject every delay merely because some mistake occurred. Section 5 does not apply to the institution of an ordinary suit.