There was past to it which doesn't matter. IAF ordering 83 Mk1a atleast ensured that IAF has thrown the ball in HAL's lap and it was upto them to gain the trust. After ther order of Mk1a, i have nothing against IAF for now. Of course if HAL keeps lagging then MWF will face the brunt and IAF will have justification to have their own say which many of us will not like maybe.
But then again, I don't think it's a big deal honestly. Covid has screwed up a lot, HAL seems like they didn't learn from the last year, atleast by now they should have refined their procurement from different companies considering they already got the deal signed for MK1a.
Covid along with i guess the integration of python 5, maybe soon astra mk1 are the probable reason for the delay. Shouldn't wait for one more year to get a better picture and maybe predict how mk1a delivery will happen till then most of the news is just speculation with nothing of value.