¶ 1. Jоhn Bowen has appealed to this Court from an order of the Circuit Court of DeSoto County dismissing for lack of jurisdiction Bowen’s аttempt to appeal a decision of the DeSoto County Board of Supervisors to that court. The decision оf the Board of Supervisors denied Bowen’s request for a conditional use permit under the county’s zoning ordinance. Bowen sought judicial review of the denial under authority of Section 11-51-75 of the Mississippi Code. The circuit court granted DeSoto Cоunty’s motion to dismiss based on a finding that Bowen had failed to file the statutorily-required bill of exceptions within ten days of the decisiоn being appealed.
¶ 2. Finding that the circuit court did, in fact, have jurisdiction to consider the appeal on the merits, wе reverse and remand for proceedings consistent with this opinion.
I.
Facts
¶ 3. The determinative facts of the case are not in dispute. The DeSoto County Board of Supervisors, by minute entry dated March 8, 2000, denied Bowen’s request for a conditional use рermit for his real property. On March 20, 2000, Bowen filed in the DeSoto County Circuit Court an instrument entitled “Notice of Appeal,” in whiсh he alleged that the action of the Board of Supervisors was contrary to law on several different grounds, the merit, or lack thereof, having no relevance to the issue now before this Court. The notice was not accompaniеd by a bill of exceptions and there is no indication in the record that Bowen subsequently attempted to obtain and prоperly file that necessary document. On July 12, 2000, the Board of Supervisors filed a motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction on the sole ground that the applicable statute required the filing of the bill of exceptions within ten days of the Board’s action in order to vest the circuit court with jurisdiction to consider the matter. The circuit court granted the motion by order dated Septеmber 28, 2000, and this appeal followed.
¶ 4. It should be noted that the tenth day after the Board’s action complained of by Bowen, which was March 18, 2000, fell on a Saturday so that the ten days to perfect the appeal would have fallen on Monday, March 20, 2000, the day Bowen filed his notice. M.R.C.P. 6(a).
II.
Discussion
¶ 5. This Court held, in the case of Bowling v. Madison County Board of Supervisors,
¶ 6. The Board of Supervisors argues that this Court’s decision in Bowling is contrary to long-established precedent from the Mississippi Supreme Court. In support of that argument, the Board alleges that the supreme court has continued to enforce the timely filing of a bill of exceptions as a jurisdictional requirement in cases decided after this Cоurt decided Bowling. The Board cites two cases—Newell v. Jones County,
¶ 7. Newell dealt with a case where nothing — neither a notice of appeal nor a bill of exceptions — wаs filed within ten days of the relevant action and provides only that “[wjhere an appeal is not perfectéd within the statutory time constraints, no jurisdiction is conferred_” Newell,
¶ 8. The Shanks case involved the question of whether a mayor’s veto is an ap-pealable action under Section 11-51-75, and, if so, when that action becomes final and appealable. Shanks,
¶ 9. The appellant has the duty to pursue the filing of all necessаry pleadings and documents to permit the court to proceed. This duty would necessarily extend to the bill of exceptions in a case of this nature. It seems evident that, at some point, an appeal from a decision of a county board of supervisors could properly be dismissed for the appellant’s lack of diligence in prosecuting his appeal when there is a prolonged delay in filing the bill of exceptions. However, that is an entirely different notion from dismissing fоr lack of jurisdiction when a bill of exceptions is not filed within ten days of the action made the subject of the appеal. Relying on our holding in Bowling, we find that the jurisdiction of the circuit court was invoked by the filing of the notice of appeal.
¶ 10. We remand with directions to the circuit court to permit Bowen a reasonable time, as set by the court in the exercise оf its sound discretion, to file the required bill of exceptions. In the event the bill of exceptions is filed within the mandated time, the court should proceed to resolve the issues presented by Bowen’s appeal on the merits. In the event the bill is not timely filed, the court should consider dismissing the appeal, not for lack of jurisdiction, but for the appellant’s failure to prosecute his appeal.
¶11. THE JUDGMENT OF THE CIRCUIT COURT OF DESOTO COUNTY IS REVERSED AND THIS CAUSE IS REMANDED FOR FURTHER PRO
