Are you looking for a legal research tool ?
Get Started
Do check other products like LIBIL, a legal due diligence tool to get a litigation check report and Case Management tool to monitor and collaborate on cases.

Prabhulingappa Khangouda Desai v. Gurunath Balaji Kalkundri

Prabhulingappa Khangouda Desai v. Gurunath Balaji Kalkundri

(High Court Of Judicature At Bombay)

First Appeal No. 272 Of 1918 | 19-07-1920

Norman Macleod, C J

[1] This is a first appeal from the decision of the learned Subordinate Judge in Darkhast No. 321 of 191

7. The original suit was decided and a decree was passed in the Sangli Court on the 18th of September 190

7. The first Darkhast presented to the Sangli Court ended on the 25th of June 1907 without any result as the decree-holder failed to pay process fees. The second Darkhast was filed in the same Court on the 11th of November 1907 and on the 14th of that month that Court transferred the proceedings to the Court at Shahapur. The , Darkhast ended on the 21th of March 1915 after the recovery of Rs. 11, 412-3-0. The third Darkhast was presented in the Sangli Court on the 9th of August 191

5. It proved ineffectual and was disposed of on the 10th of November 191

5. The next Darkhast was presented in the Belgaum Court (Darkhast No. 476 of 1915) and was disposed of without result on the 26th of May 191

7. The Darkhast under appeal was presented to the Belgaum Court on the 27th of August 1917.

[2] It was contended that the Darkhast was barred by limitation but the Court ordered the Darkhast to proceed. It is now argued that the period from 1907 to the 10th of November 1915 during which the execution proceedings were pending in the Sangli and Shahapur Courts does not save limitation as those Courts were not proper Courts within the meaning of Article 182, Clause (5), of the Indian Limitation Act. Proper Court under Article 182, Explanation II, means the Court whose duty it is to execute a decree or order. It is difficult then to see how it can be said that the Sangli and Shahapur Courts were not proper Courts within the meaning of Article 18

2. I do not see how the ruling cited-Nabibhai Vazirbhai v. Dayabhai Amulakh (1910) I. L. R. 40 Bom. 604 : 18 Bom. L. R. 481 -would affect the question. That case only decided that when a decree was incapable of execution in British Courts owing to its being barred on account of the British law of limitation it made no difference that a different law was applicable to the Courts from whose jurisdiction the decree had been transferred for execution. Under Section 44 of the Code the Governor-General in Council may by notification in the Gazette of India declare that the decrees of any civil or revenue Courts situated in the territory of any native Prince or State in alliance with his Majesty and not established or continued by the authority of the Governor-General in Council or any class of such decrees may be executed in British India as if they had been passed by the Courts of British India. Therefore when this decree was transferred for execution to the Belgaum Court, it had to be treated exactly in the same way as if it had been passed by the Court at Belgaum. The period occupied by the execution proceedings in the Sangli and Shahapur Courts must be treated as if the execution proceedings were pending in proper Courts within the meaning of Article 182.

[3] Then it was suggested that limitation began from the time the second Darkhast was filed in the Sangli Court, that fresh proceedings had not been instituted within three years of that date, although as a matter of fact the Darkhast was continued and money was being recovered under it until the 24th of March 191

5. If a Darkhast is filed and the Court directs instalments to be paid under it and recovers instalments, it cannot be that while the instalments are being recovered any further proceedings are necessary : Bapuchand v. Muyutrao (1896) I. L. R. 22 Bom. 340. Assuming that the third Darkhast presented on the 9th of August 1915 would have been held to be barred by limitation if the point had been taken, the point was not taken, and proceedings continued under that Darkhast until it was disposed of on the 10th of November 191

5. Then the next Darkhast which was presented in the Belgaum Court and continued until it was disposed of on the 12th of May 1917 was within time. In Desaiappa v. Dundappa (1919) 22 Bom. L. R. 76 the same question came up before Mr. Justice Heaton and myself, and following the decision of the Privy Council in Mungul Perahad Dichit v. Grija Kant Lahiri Chowdhry (1881) L. R. 8 I.A. 123 we decided that if an application be admitted and proceedings taken thereunder, although as a matter of fact they would be barred by limitation if an application were made for the disposal of the application on that ground, they provide a new starting point for limitation. Following that decision it is clear that this Darkhast was within three years from the previous Darkhast. Therefore on that ground the appeal fails.

[4] It may be noted that this question was never raised in the lower Court. The only question argued was whether the Sangli and Shahapur Courts were proper Courts

[5] The appeal, therefore, must be dismissed with costs.

Advocate List
  • For The Appearing Parties ----.
Bench
  • HONBLE CHIEF JUSTICE MR. NORMAN MACLEOD
  • HONBLE MR. JUSTICE FAWCETT
Eq Citations
  • 1920 (22) BOMLR 1389
  • 59 IND. CAS. 747
  • AIR 1921 BOM 256
  • ILR 1921 45 BOM 453
  • LQ/BomHC/1920/117
Head Note

Civil Procedure Code, 1908 Art. 182 and S. 44 Indian Limitation Act, 1908, Art. 182(5)