The doctrine of latches is a legal defence that may be claimed in the civil matter which states that their has been an unreasonable delay in pursuing the claim which has prevented the defendant from putting the defence, the doctrine of latches is an equitable defence that seeks to prevent a party from the ambushing someone else by failing to make a legal claim in a timely manner .

Relevance
It basically asserts that the court will not help people who sleep over their rights and help only those who are aware and vigilant about their rights ,a party is said to be guilty pf laches when they come to the court to assert their right after a reasonable delay in that respect.

A delay in filing a lawsuit has the effect of preventing the opposing party from putting on a fair defence ,the reason is witnesses go their ways ,evidence disappears and memories falter ,if the plantiff has the knowledge of the problem that might be the subject of a legal dispute ,but puts off an asserting his claim for an unreasonable amount of time he may be barred from recovering on his claim at all.

Example- Lisa has a sexual harassment claim against her college history professor ,but she waits 6 years to file a lawsuit ,during this course of time the professor has moved to teach in some other college and the students who have witness such a circumstance would have scattered in their lives ,now in this case the college and the administration may claim the doctrine of laches in the affirmative defenses to the law suit ,this tells us that the because lisa took soo time to file the suit, because lisa allowed took a lot time to pass the without filing a claim, they have been put in a unfair position ,as it will be very difficult to put on a defence after so many years of the incident.

Genesis
Trilok Chand Motichand Vs. H.B. Munshi
In this case the main question before the court was whether there is any period of limitation prescribed within which the remedy under article 32 to be invoked ,the petition in this case was filed after a delay of 10 years ,the plea was dismissed for delay.
Justice Sikri quoted a term of 3 years which can be used as a reasonable time for the filing of a writ petition.
Justice Bachawat quoted it as 1 year
On other hand , Justice hegde suggested that the law on limitation has no application on the on the proceedings to take place under article 32 and such the court cannot refuse a petition based on the delay.
In this regard , Chief Justice Hidayatullah felt their should be no usage of the hard and the fast rule he said that the issue should be dealt by the court in a case to case basis.

Gian Singh Vs. High court of Punjab and Haryana
In this case the writ petition was filed by the petitioners after a period of 11 years after a date from which they claimed promotions.
The petitioners argued that the during the following years they were representing themselves before the different authorities regarding their grievances .
The court dismissed the petition stating that their was no valid reason for the delay stated.

The doctrine of laches is based on the maxim that:
Equity aids the vigilant and not those who slumber on their rights ,historically this doctrine was founded in the lord chancellor's court where the plantiff failed to file the petition within the reasonable period of time ,consequently the relief was denied on the ground laches even though no specific prejudice to the defendant was shown.

Furthermore it was also found that even though the delay is for a shorter period of time than the prescribed by the statue ,it may still bar the interim relief if it is unreasonable and prejudicial to the defendant .

Difference between laches and Statue of limitation
The two of them might look similar but however they are different in lot of ways , a statue of limitation is a definitive time limit set by the law in which a person can make a legal claim ,or a prosecutor may file a criminal charges.

The purpose of both the latches and the statues of limitations is to ensure that the legal claims are filed in a reasonable period of time, so that the evidences and reasonable witnesses can be found ,the statue of limitation deals with whether the statutory time period has lapsed and the doctrine of laches is concerned with reasonableness of a delay in filling a legal action.

Personal Opinion
The intent behind this doctrine is not to provide any relief to a person who has clarified by his actions (by displaying disinterest in claiming his rights within a fair amount of time) that he has waived his right to claim; or if the defendant has been put in such a position by his conduct and negligent behaviour that it has jeopardised his case and if a remedy was to be claimed in the future, it Holding all this in mind, the court held that in such cases, the lapse of time and delay bear utmost significance, and the theory of Laches rests on these aims.

The doctrine with regard to the fundamental rights has more importance because these rights are guaranteed are basic and cannot be replaced ,the doctrine of laches acts as a watchdog to the judicial system and plays an important role where in the cases which are very genuine and important are dealt and the one which are malice are dealt with due reprimand ,hence the doctrine of laches have in the past few years have eased the burden of proof on the plantiff, giving a clear picture what cases have to be taken care of .

Written By: Mauli Dogra