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What is the significance of period of limitation? [ 1998 H.C.S ]
Answer:
Law of Limitation in India
The word limitation itself says the meaning. The word limitation in its
literal term means a restriction or the rule or circumstances which are
limited. The law of limitation has been prescribed as the time limit which is
given for different suits to the aggrieved person within which they can
approach the court for redress or justice.
It is necessary to have certain basic knowledge regarding the law of
limitation though it is not expected from every citizen to master various
provisions which has been provided for limitation in different suits matters.
The basic concept of limitation is relating to fixing or prescribing of
the time period for barring legal actions. According to Section 2 (j) of the
Limitation Act, 1963, ‘period of limitation’ means the period of limitation
prescribed for any suit, appeal or application by the Schedule, and ‘prescribed
period’ means the period of limitation computed in accordance with the
provisions of this Act.
The Law of Limitation signifies to prevent from the last date for different
legal actions which can take place against an aggrieved person and to advance
the suit and seek remedy or righteous before the court. Where a suit is
initiated after the bar of limitation, it will be hit by the law of limitation.
The main and the fundamental aim of the law of limitation is to protect the
lengthy process of penalizing a person indirectly without doing any offence.
The law relating to Law of Limitation to India is the Limitation Act,
1859 and subsequently Limitation Act, 1963 which was enacted on 5th of October,
1963 and which came into force from 1st of January, 1964 for the purpose of
consolidating and amending the legal principles relating to limitation of suits
and other legal proceedings.
According to the provisions provided under the act, it is the litigation
which is initiated, the Appeal which is entertained and the request which are
made after the specified term which shall be dismissed even though the
limitation is not raised as a defence. It is a suit which is initiated when the
complaint is instituted to any of an appropriate officer in a normal case and
where the person is a pauper. In other circumstances a suit is initiated when
the request for leave to file a suit as a pauper is made and where the cases
relating to the allegation which is against the company that is being wound up
by a court, where the applicant initially sent his assertions to the official
liquidator. Where the assertion is made in a form of set off or counterclaim,
it shall be deemed as a separate litigation and in the case of set off it shall
also be considered to have initiated on the date on which the preceding for set
off is pleaded. It can be said that in a case of additional claim a suit shall
be instituted within the same date on which the counterclaim has been made.
With this a request by notice of motion is made in the High Court when the
application is provided to the appropriate officer of that particular Court.
When a court is closed on the expiry date for filing any shoot to kill
or application search suits API law application may be initiated on the
reopening day of the court. An appeal or application shall be admitted by the
court after the specified period if the litigant convinces to the court why
showing inadequate cause for the failure to prepare a pill application within
the specified period then the court can admit his appeal or application. It is
the duty of a litigant to give appropriate cause for his failure for the
filling of a suit appeal or application. Beside all this, it is the act which
provides that where a person who is having an authority to file any suit or to
make any request for the execution of defence who is a minor or insane or an
idiot during the specified time of filing is to be considered. He may be
initiated a to file a suit or application which shall be filed within the same
time after his disability has come to an end, or at the time during which the
specified term is to be considered she may initiate the legal actions or
applications within the same term after both in capacities of disabilities of
his have come to an end. Where else if the incapacity your disability continues
of that person till his death, when the act West the authorities of that person
on the legal representatives to initiate the legal actions or make any
application after his death within the same period.
As provided under the Act, the legal disability shall not apply to any
suits which are filed for the right of pre-emption or the limitation period and
which are to be extended for a period and upon such conditions. While to do a
calculation of the limitation period for any litigation, appeal or application,
the date from which such period is to be considered, shall be deem to be
exempted. A suit which are filed for review or revision or appeal of a
judgment, the date shall be calculated from the date on which the judgment is
delivered and the time of request for getting duplicate of the decree, or order
appealed from or revised or reviewed shall be exempted. The Act also provides
for other computation of limitation for suits against trustee, execution of a
decree, effect of fraud or mistake. The Act states acquisition of easement by
prescription for the enjoyment of the use of land without interruption for
twenty years.
The Limitation Act, 1963 does not affect the provisions provided
under The Indian Contract Act, 1872. The Act is made
effective for the reason that it bars the jurisdiction of the court to
entertain the actions that are frivolous and to avoid the long proceeding of
the pending actions by the complainants.
SUPREME COURT
AND LIMITATION ACT
Manifest
pedagogy: The topic deals with the plenary powers
of the Supreme Court as well as steps taken by it to maintain social distancing
in the judiciary. It also explains the scope of the Limitation Act.
In news: SC has invoked Limitation Act
Placing it in syllabus: Supreme Court powers
Static dimensions: What is the Limitation Act and its
provisions?
Current dimensions:
·
Act
recently invoked by the SC
·
Importance
of the Act
Content: The Supreme Court has announced a list of measures
that the court will be taking to help practice social distancing in the
judiciary. The apex court will now give lawyers the option of arguing their
cases through video conferencing.
What is the Limitation Act?
·
The
Limitation Act, 1963 is the legislation that governs the period within
which suits are to be filed, with relevant provisions for delay,
condonation thereof etc…
·
If
the suit is filed after the expiration of the time period as specified in this
act, it will be barred by limitation.
·
The
first Limitation Law was established in 1859 which came into operation in
1862.
·
Finally
it took the form of the Limitation Act in 1963 and came into force from
1st January, 1964.
·
The main
objective of the LA,1963 is to provide a specific time frame within
which a person can file a suit in a court.
·
It aims
to protect the lengthy process of penalising a person indirectly without
an offence.
Provisions:
·
The Limitation
Act contains 32 Sections and 137 Articles.
·
The
articles have been divided into 10 parts.
·
There is
no uniform limitation for the suits under which the classifications
have been attempted.
·
The limitation
period is reduced from a period of 60 years to 30 years in case of
mortgages for foreclosure or suits by or on the behalf of the Central
Government or any State Government.
·
A period
of 12 years has been prescribed for different kinds of suits
relating to immovable property, trusts and us endowments.
·
A period
of 3 years has been prescribed for the suits relating to accounts,
contracts and declarations, decrees and instruments as well as movable
property.
·
A period
varying from 1 to 3 years has been prescribed for suits relating to torts and
miscellaneous matters.
The Act recently invoked by the SC:
·
The
Supreme Court recently invoked its plenary powers under Article
142 of the Constitution to extend the limitation period of
appeals from high courts or tribunals on account of coronavirus pandemic.
·
To
obviate difficulties and to ensure that lawyers/litigants do not have to come
physically to file proceedings in respective courts/tribunals across the
country, the period of limitation in all proceedings, has been extended
from March 15, 2020 till further orders.
·
SC
has decided to resort to the digital mode to maintain social distancing and
prevent spread of infection and the cases would be heard through an app called
‘Vidyo’.
·
Section 4 of the Act states that “where
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 re-opens.
Importance of the Act:
·
The
Limitation Act, 1963 signifies that it does not make any racial or
class distinction since both Hindu and Muslim Law are now available
under the law of limitation as per the existing statute.
·
The major
purpose of the Act is not to destroy or infringe the rights of an
aggrieved person but to serve the public in a better way and to save time.
·
This
statute is basically founded on the public policy for fixing a life span for
the legal actions which are taking place and to seek remedy in time with the
purpose of general welfare.
·
It
helps in avoiding the unexplainable delay and latches in a
suit.
The Salient Features are
· The Limitation Act
contains 32 Sections and 137 Articles. The articles have been divided into 10
parts. The first part is relating to accounts, the second part is relating to
contracts, the third part is relating to declaration, the fourth part is
relating to decrees and instrument, the fifth part is relating to immovable
property, the sixth part is relating to movable property, the seventh part is
relating to torts, the eighth part is relating to trusts and trust property,
the ninth part is relating to miscellaneous matters and the last part is
relating to suits for which there is no prescribed period.
· There is no uniform
of limitation for the suits under which the classifications has been attempted.
· The limitation
period is reduced from a period of 60 years to 30 years in the case of suit by
the mortgagor for the redemption or recovery of possession of the immovable
property mortgaged, or in case of a mortgages for the foreclosure or suits by
or on the behalf of Central Government or any State Government including the
State of Jammu and Kashmir.
· Whereas a longer
period of 12 years has been prescribed for different kinds of suits relating to
immovable property, trusts and endowments, a period of 3 years has been
prescribed for the suits relating to accounts, contracts and declarations,
suits relating to decrees and instruments and as well as suits relating to movable
property.
· A period varying
from 1 to 3 years has been prescribed for suits relating to torts and
miscellaneous matters and for suits for which no period of limitation has been
provided elsewhere in the Schedule to the Act.
· It is to be taken
as the minimum period of seven days of the Act for the appeal against the death
sentence passed by the High Court or the Court of Session in the exercise of
the original jurisdiction which has been raised to 30 days from the date of
sentence given.
· One of the main salient
feature of the Limitation Act, 1963 is that it has to avoid the illustration on
the suggestion given by the Third Report of the Law Commission on the
Limitation Act of 1908 as the illustration which are given are most of the time
unnecessary and are often misleading.
· The Limitation Act,
1963 has a very wide range considerably to include almost all the Court
proceedings. The definition of ‘application’ has been extended to include any
petition, original or otherwise. The change in the language of Section 2 and
Section 5 of the Limitation act, 1963 includes all the petition and also
application under special laws.
· The new Act has
been enlarged with the definition of ‘application’, ‘plaintiff’ and ‘defendant’
as to not only include a person from whom the application. Plaintiff or
defendant as the case may be derives his title but also a person whose estate
is represented by an executor, administrator or other representatives.
· According to
Sections 86 and Section 89 of the Civil Procedure Code, it requires the consent
of the Central Government before suing foreign rulers, ambassadors and envoys.
The Limitation Act, 1963 provides that when the time obtained for obtaining
such consent shall be excluded for computing the period of limitation for
filing such suits.
· The Limitation Act,
1963 with its new law signifies that it does not make any racial or class
distinction since both Hindu and Muslim Law are now available under the law of
limitation as per the existing statute book. In the matter of Syndicate Bank v.
Prabha D. Naik, (AIR 2001 SC 1968) the Supreme Court has observed that the law
of limitation under the Limitation Act, 1963 does make any racial or class
distinction while making or indulging any law to any particular person.
According to Halsbury’s Laws of
England, the Main Objects of the Law of Limitations are as follows
Whereas it has been observed and expressed by the Court that there are
almost three different types of supporting reasons for the existence of
statutes of limitation.
1.
That long dormant claims have more of cruelty than justice in them.
2.
That a defendant might have lost the evidence to dispute the State
claim.
3.
That person with good causes of actions should pursue them with.
There are two Major Broad
Considerations on which the Doctrine of Limitation and Prescription are based
on
· That, the right
which are not exercised for a long time are said to be as non-existence.
· That, the rights
which are related to property and rights which are in general should not be in
a state of constant uncertainty, doubt and suspense.
The main object of limit in any of the legal actions which is to give
effect to the maxim ‘interest reipublicae ut sit finis litium’ which means that
if the interest of the State is required that there should be a limit to a
litigation and also to prevent any kind of disturbance or deprivation of what
may have been acquired in equity and justice or by way long enjoyment or what
may have been lost by a party’s own inaction, negligence or laches.
The intention in accepting the concept of limitation is that
“controversies are restricted to a fixed period of time, lest they should
become immortal while men are moral.”
There is a limitation to litigation which interposes the statutory bar.
This statutory restriction after a certain period of time gives a status to
enforce an existing right. Simply, it neither create any right in favour of any
person nor does it define or create any cause of action against the particular
person but it prescribes about the remedy. These remedy can be exercised only
up to a certain period of time and not subsequently. The main object of the
statute of the Limitation Act, 1963 is more over a preventive kind and not to
interpose a statutory bar after a certain period of time and it gives a quietus
to all the suit matters to enforce an existing right.
The major purpose of the statutory of the Limitation Act, 1963 is not to
destroy or infringe the rights of an aggrieved person but to serve public in a
better way and to save time. This statute is basically founded on the public
policy for fixing a life span for the legal action which are taken place and to
seek remedy in time with the purpose of general welfare. The object of
providing a legal remedy is to repair the damage which is caused by reason of
legal injury.
Redress of the Legal Injury from
Legal Action when Suffered
The provisions of Limitation Act which are provided in the statute are
the statute of repose, to suppress frauds and to supply deficiency of proofs
which are arising from the ambiguity, obscurity or the antiquity. The
presumptions proceed upon the claims which are extinguished or are ought to be
extinguished whenever they are not litigated with the prescribed period of
time.
The right has been measured as an equivalent with regards to making of
the quick diligence to the person. It has discouraged the litigation by buying
some common receptacle which has accumulated from the past times which are now
unexplainable and have become inexplicable due to lapse of time. The Limitation
Act is a law of repose, peace and justice which has barred the remedy after the
failure of particular period of time. This is all because for the public policy
and expediency without extinguishing any right in certain cases.
It has been the topic of discussion in the Supreme Court and different
High Court about the object of the Law of Limitation. In the matter of State of
Rajasthan v. Rikhab Chand [1], it has been observed by the Rajasthan High Court
that the rules of limitation are mainly intended to induce the claimant in
claiming the relief and also in avoiding the unexplainable delay and latches in
a suit.
Whereas, in the matter of M.P. Raghavan Nair v. State Insurance Officer
[2], it has been observed by the Kerala High Court that the Law of Limitation
is based upon public policy mainly aiming at justice, repose and peace.
In the matter of Rajender Singh v. Santa Singh [3], it was held by the
Supreme Court of India that “the object of the Law of Limitation is to prevent
disturbance or deprivation of what may have been acquired in equity and justice
by a long enjoyment or what may have been lost by a party’s own inaction,
negligence or latches.”
In the matter of B.B. & D. Mfg. Co. v. ESI Corporation [4], it was
observed by the Supreme Court that-
“The object of the Statutes of
Limitations to compel a person to exercise his rights of action within a
reasonable time as also to discourage and suppress stale, fake or fraudulent
claims. While this is so, there are two aspects of the Statutes of Limitation —
the one concerns with the extinguishment of the right if a claim or action is
not commenced within a particular time and the other merely bars the claim without
affecting the right which either remains merely as a moral obligation or can be
availed of to furnish the consideration for a fresh enforceable obligation.
Where a statute prescribing the limitation extinguishes the right if affects
substantive right while that which purely pertains to the commencement of
action without touching the right is said to be procedural.”
In Balakrishnan v. M.A. Krishnamurthy [5], it was held by the Supreme
Court that the Limitation Act is based upon public policy which is used for
fixing a life span of a legal remedy for the purpose of general welfare. It has
been pointed out that the Law of Limitation are not only meant to destroy the
rights of the parties but are meant to look to the parties who do not resort
the tactics but in general to seek remedy. It fixes the life span for legal
injury suffered by the aggrieved person which has been enshrined in the maxim
‘interest reipublicae ut sit finis litium’ which means the Law of Limitation is
for general welfare and that the period is to be put into litigation and not
meant to destroy the rights of the person or parties who are seeking remedy.
The idea with regards to this is that every legal remedy must be alive for a
legislatively fixed period of time.
The Law of Limitation is an adjective Law. It is lex fori. Thus, it can
be said that the rules of the Law of Limitation are generally prima facie with
the rules of procedure and which has not created any rights in favour of any
particular person nor does they define or create any cause of action. It has
been simply prescribed that the remedy can be exercised only for a limited
fixed period of time and subsequently.
The two effective implementation which helps in for a quick disposal of
a cases or matters and which are also effective for litigation are Limitation
and compensation of delay, which plays a vital role before the court. The Law
of Limitation helps to keep a check while pulling of cases where it prescribes
the period of time within which a suit is to be filled and also it is the time
which are available within which an aggrieved person can get the remedy
conveniently and in an easy manner. Whereas the Law of Compensation of delay
helps to keep the principle of natural justice alive and it also helps to state
the facts that when different people might have different problem then the same
kind of sentence or a same singular rule may not apply to all of them in a same
manner. Thus, it is very much essential to hear the matter first from them and
then decide accordingly whether they are fit in the criteria of the judgment or
whether they should be given another chance. So, it can be said that Law of
Limitation is very much important for the country like India and it also plays
a major role in a court of law.
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