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IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

CIVIL APPEAL NO.   5862   OF 2016 (Arising out of S.L.P.(C) No. 27853 of 2012)

AJAY GUPTA ...  APPELLANT (S)

VERSUS

RAJU @ RAJENDRA SINGH YADAV      ... RESPONDENT (S)

J  U  D  G  M  E  N  T

KURIAN, J.:

Leave granted.  

2. The impugned judgment on limitation to file a suit gives

an interesting reading on reasoning:

“Learned trial  court  has  vide impugned order, disposed the application filed under Order 7 Rule 11 by the defendant on the ground that 01.01.2011 was non-working Saturday, therefore the Suit was filed on 03.01.2011 is within limitation. Although, there is no bar for filing of Suit on non-working Saturday but if the Suit is not filed on non-working Saturday under the assumption that it is non-working Saturday then the mistake of non-filing is a bonafide mistake, so the mistake is taken as bonafide mistake.”

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REPORTABLE

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 3.  It is not in dispute that the last date for filing the suit

was  31.12.2010,  the  last  day  of  winter  vacation  for  court.

01.01.2011 was a Saturday,  and even according to the High

Court,  it  is  non-working Saturday for  the Judges for  enabling

them to write judgments and regular hearing of cases is not

heard  on  a  non-working  Saturday.  Obviously,  it  was  not  a

holiday  for  the  Registry  and  there  is  no  question  of  any

confusion, though such confusion also cannot save limitation to

file a suit.

4. Section  4  of  The  Limitation  Act,  1963  (hereinafter

referred  to  as  ‘the  Act’),  dealing  with  “Expiry  of  prescribed

period when court is closed”, no doubt, applies to suits as well,

and  in  case  the  prescribed  period  for  any  suit,  appeal  or

application expires on a day when the court is closed, the suit,

appeal or application may be instituted, preferred or made on

the day when the court reopens.

5. The explanation under Section 4 of the Act also makes it

clear that:

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“Explanation.-A  court  shall  be  deemed  to  be closed  on  any  day  within  the  meaning  of  this section  if  during  any  part  of  its  normal  working hours it remains closed on that day.”

6. There is no case for anybody that even for part of the

day, the Registry was closed. But Section 5 of the Act which

deals  with “Extension of  prescribed period in  certain cases”,

applies  only  to  appeals  or  applications  and  not  to  suits.

Therefore,  no  court  or  tribunal  can  extend  the  period  of

limitation for filing a suit. Even if any cause, beyond the control

of  the  plaintiff  is  shown also,  the  only  extension  is  what  is

permitted under Section 4 of the Act, the period coming under

court holiday.

7. Thus,  both  the  trial  court  and  the  High  Court  have

gravely  gone  wrong  on  the  first  principles  on  the  law  of

Limitation.  Therefore,  the  impugned  order  is  set  aside.  The

application filed by the appellant under Order VII Rule 11 of The

Code  of  Civil  Procedure,  1908  is  allowed.  Recovery  Suit  No.

1/2011  on  the  file  of  the  ADJ,  Gwalior,  Madhya  Pradesh  is

dismissed.

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8. The appeal is allowed as above. There shall be no order

as to costs.  

........................................J.         (KURIAN JOSEPH)

......………………………………J. (ROHINTON FALI NARIMAN)

New Delhi; July 5, 2016.

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