New Delhi, Sept. 13 -- High courts must not become "surrogates for State laxity and lethargy", the Supreme Court held on Friday, stressing that common citizens cannot be dragged into perpetual litigation because courts reopen matters at the government's behest after years of delay. "We are at pains to reiterate this everlasting trend, and put all the high courts to notice, not to reopen matters with inordinate delay, until sufficient cause exists, as by doing so the courts only add insult to the injury," a bench of justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan said. The ruling came while setting aside a 2017 judgment of the Karnataka high court, which had condoned a delay of 3,966 days, nearly 11 years, by the state housing board in filing a second appeal in a civil case. The bench underscored that condonation of delay is to remain "an exception, not the rule." Government litigants, it held, must be held to the same standard as private parties. "Absent sufficient justification, delay cannot be condoned merely on the ground of the identity of the applicant," ruled the court, rejecting the notion that the State is entitled to special treatment under Section 5 of the Limitation Act. Tracing the evolution of jurisprudence over six decades, the court noted that earlier indulgence shown to governments on the ground of bureaucratic complexities and institutional inertia was no longer tenable. Instead, parity and accountability are now the guiding principles. The court noted that most government departments habitually blame red-tapism, administrative bottlenecks, or bureaucratic lethargy for delay, but such justifications amount to excuses rather than genuine explanations....