The Schedule: How to Find a Period of Limitation

Article 137: any other application for which no period of limitation is provided elsewhere in the Division, three years, from when the right to apply accrues.

Article 137 is heavily used in practice, because the Third Division names only a limited set of applications and everything else falls into it.

The Articles worth knowing

No one memorises 137 Articles. These are the ones an LLB paper actually turns on, taken verbatim in substance from the Schedule.

Suits on contract

Suits about declarations and instruments

Suits about immovable property

Suits about movable property and tort

Government, and the residue

Appeals: the Second Division

The civil entries are Article 116 and Article 117, and they should be given together because they answer the two questions a student asks.

Article 116, under the Code of Civil Procedure 1908: (a) to a High Court from any decree or order, ninety days, from the date of the decree or order (b) to any other court from any decree or order, thirty days, from the date of the decree or order

Article 117: from a decree or order of any High Court to the same Court, thirty days, from the date of the decree or order. This is the letters patent appeal from a single judge to a Division Bench. See [Chartered High Courts and Small Cause Courts].

So a first appeal to the District Court is thirty days, a first or second appeal to the High Court is ninety days, and an intra-court appeal within a High Court is thirty days.

Recall from [Bar of Limitation and Condonation of Delay] that a late appeal can be saved by section 5 on sufficient cause, and that Order XLI Rule 3A requires it to be accompanied by an application supported by affidavit.

Applications: the Third Division

These are the entries that come up constantly in a procedure paper, because each corresponds to a rule of the Code studied elsewhere in this book.

Four of these deserve a note.

Article 118 gives ten days for leave to defend a summary suit, and it is the shortest period in the Schedule. See [Summary Procedure].

Article 123 is the ex parte decree entry, and its second limb matters: where the summons or notice was not duly served, time runs from when the applicant had knowledge of the decree, not from the decree. The Explanation adds that substituted service under Order V Rule 20 shall not be deemed due service for this Article. See [Appearance and Consequences of Non-appearance].

Article 127 was amended. The period to set aside an execution sale is sixty days, substituted for "thirty days" by Act 104 of 1976 with effect from 1 February 1977. Older books still print thirty. See [Sale in Execution].

Article 136 is the execution Article and the one most often asked. Twelve years for execution of a decree, running from when it becomes enforceable. Its proviso is a genuine exception: an application for the enforcement or execution of a decree granting a perpetual injunction shall not be subject to any period of limitation. Note that Article 135 separately gives three years for enforcement of a decree granting a mandatory injunction. See [Meaning of Execution and the Court which Executes].

The contrast between Articles 135 and 136 is examinable in a line: mandatory injunction, three years; perpetual injunction, no limitation; every other decree, twelve years.

How to work a limitation problem

This is a method, and it is worth following in that order in an answer, because it earns marks in sequence.

One, classify the proceeding. Is it a suit, an appeal, or an application? The Division follows from that, and so does whether section 5 is available at all.

Two, find the Article. Go to the Part of the Division that matches the subject matter. If nothing fits, use Article 113 for a suit and Article 137 for an application.

Three, read column 3 first. Fix the starting point before the length. Most wrong answers get the length right and the start wrong.

Four, apply the computation sections. Exclude the first day, section 12(1); exclude the copying time for an appeal, section 12(2) and (3); exclude time in a wrong court, section 14; exclude a statutory notice period, section 15(2). Consider whether section 17 postpones the start for fraud or mistake, and whether sections 18 to 20 have given a fresh period. See [Computation of the Period of Limitation] and [Effect of Acknowledgment and Part Payment].

Five, consider disability, sections 6 to 9, and the three-year cap in section 8. See [Legal Disability].

Six, apply section 3. If the proceeding is out of time it must be dismissed, whether or not limitation was pleaded, subject to section 4 where the court was closed and section 5 where the delay in an appeal or application can be condoned.

Seven, check for a special law. Section 29(2): where a special or local law prescribes a different period, section 3 applies as if that period were in the Schedule, and sections 4 to 24 apply only so far as that law does not expressly exclude them.

A worked example

Zainab obtains a money decree on 10 March 2015. She does nothing about it until 2026.

Which Division? She wants to execute, so it is an application, the Third Division.

Which Article? Article 136, execution of a decree of a civil court.

How long, and from when? Twelve years, from when the decree became enforceable. From 10 March 2015 that expires on 10 March 2027, so she is in time.

Suppose the decree had granted a perpetual injunction. The proviso to Article 136 applies: an application to enforce it is not subject to any period of limitation at all.

Suppose it had granted a mandatory injunction. Article 136 excludes it and Article 135 applies: three years from the date of the decree, or from the date fixed for performance.

Suppose she is late and pleads sufficient cause. Section 5 does not help, because it expressly excludes applications under Order XXI of the Code.

Change the proceeding. Suppose instead she wants to appeal the decree to the High Court. Article 116(a): ninety days from the date of the decree. She excludes the day of pronouncement and the time requisite for copies under section 12(2) and (3), but not her own delay in applying for them, by the Explanation.

Change it again. Suppose the decree was passed against her ex parte and the summons was never duly served. Article 123: thirty days, but running from when she had knowledge of the decree, and by the Explanation substituted service under Order V Rule 20 is not due service for this purpose.

Change it again. Suppose she wants a review. Article 124: thirty days from the date of the decree or order.

Change it again. Suppose a party to her suit died and she wants his legal representative brought on record. Article 120: ninety days from the date of death. If the suit has already abated, Article 121: sixty days from the date of abatement.

Change the claim entirely. Suppose she is suing for possession of land she owns, occupied by another since 2011. Article 65: twelve years from when the defendant's possession became adverse. That expired in 2023, and section 27 has already extinguished her right.

Suppose no Article fits her claim at all. Article 113: three years from when the right to sue accrues.

What it does not mean

The Schedule is not the whole answer. Column 2 gives the period of limitation; the prescribed period is that figure computed under sections 4 to 24.

Column 2 is not the important column. Column 3 decides the case.

Article 137 is not a general three-year rule for everything. It is the residuary Article for applications only; Article 113 is the residuary for suits.

Twelve years is not the period for every execution step. Article 136 covers the application for execution of a decree; a mandatory injunction is under Article 135, a perpetual injunction has no period, and separate applications have their own Articles, such as 127 for setting aside a sale.

Old editions are not safe on Article 127. The period is sixty days, amended in 1977.

The Schedule does not override a special law. Section 29(2) governs that relationship.

Quick revision

Three columns: description, period, and time from which it begins to run. Always give the third.

Structure: 137 Articles in three Divisions. Suits, Articles 1 to 113 in ten Parts (accounts, contracts, declarations, decrees and instruments, immovable property, movable property, tort, trusts, miscellaneous, and no prescribed period). Appeals, 114 to 117. Applications, 118 to 136 in specified cases and 137 for the rest.

Residuary: Article 113, suits, three years from when the right to sue accrues. Article 137, applications, three years from when the right to apply accrues.

Most used: 54 specific performance, three years. 55 breach of contract, three years. 58 declaration, three years. 59 cancellation, three years from knowledge. 61(a) redemption, thirty years. 62 money charged on immovable property, twelve years. 64 possession on previous possession, twelve years from dispossession. 65 possession on title, twelve years from when possession becomes adverse. 67 landlord against tenant, twelve years. 112 suit by Government, thirty years.

Appeals: 116(a) to a High Court, ninety days; 116(b) to any other court, thirty days; 117 within the same High Court, thirty days.

Applications: 118 leave to defend a summary suit, ten days from service. 120 legal representative, ninety days from death. 121 setting aside abatement, sixty days. 122 restoration after dismissal for default, thirty days. 123 setting aside an ex parte decree, thirty days, or from knowledge where the summons was not duly served, and substituted service is not due service. 124 review, thirty days. 127 setting aside an execution sale, sixty days, amended in 1977. 131 revision, ninety days. 135 mandatory injunction, three years. 136 execution, twelve years, and a perpetual injunction is subject to no period at all.

Test yourself

1. How is the Schedule arranged? In 137 Articles across three Divisions. The First Division deals with suits, Articles 1 to 113, in ten Parts covering accounts, contracts, declarations, decrees and instruments, immovable property, movable property, tort, trusts and trust property, miscellaneous matters, and suits for which no period is prescribed. The Second Division deals with appeals, Articles 114 to 117. The Third Division deals with applications, Articles 118 to 136 in specified cases and Article 137 for other applications.

2. What are the residuary Articles? Article 113, for any suit for which no period of limitation is provided elsewhere in the Schedule, three years from when the right to sue accrues; and Article 137, for any other application for which no period is provided elsewhere in the Division, three years from when the right to apply accrues.

3. What is the period for execution of a decree? Twelve years under Article 136, running from when the decree or order becomes enforceable, or where it directs payment or delivery at a certain date or at recurring periods, from when default takes place. The proviso excepts a decree granting a perpetual injunction, an application to enforce which is subject to no period of limitation. A decree granting a mandatory injunction falls under Article 135, three years.

4. What is the period for an appeal under the Code of Civil Procedure? Under Article 116, ninety days to a High Court from any decree or order, and thirty days to any other court. Under Article 117, thirty days from a decree or order of a High Court to the same Court.

5. From when does time run for setting aside an ex parte decree? Under Article 123, thirty days from the date of the decree; but where the summons or notice was not duly served, from when the applicant had knowledge of the decree. The Explanation provides that substituted service under Order V Rule 20 of the Code shall not be deemed to be due service for the purposes of the Article.

6. What is the period for a suit for possession of immovable property based on title, and when does it begin? Twelve years under Article 65, from when the possession of the defendant becomes adverse to the plaintiff. Where the plaintiff sues on previous possession and not on title, Article 64 gives twelve years from the date of dispossession, and where the plaintiff is the Central or a State Government, Article 112 gives thirty years.

7. Set out the steps in solving a limitation problem. Classify the proceeding as a suit, appeal or application; find the Article in the relevant Division, falling back on Article 113 or Article 137; read column 3 to fix the starting point before the length; apply the computation provisions in sections 12 to 24, including exclusions and any fresh period under sections 18 to 20; consider legal disability under sections 6 to 9 with the three-year cap in section 8; apply the bar in section 3, subject to section 4 where the court was closed and section 5 where the delay in an appeal or application can be condoned; and check section 29(2) for any special or local law prescribing a different period.