Limitation Act, 1963 – s.17 – Effect of fraud or mistake – Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 – Or.VII, r.6 – Grounds of exemption from limitation law – Petitioner filed suit seeking cancellation of sale deed on the ground that fraud was played upon her to sign the sale deed and thereby transfer the subject property – Suit dismissed on the ground of limitation – Challenge to: Held: The initial onus was on the plaintiff who had challenged the sale deed – Fraud was alleged as a ground upon which the plaintiff justified the institution of the suit long after the expiry of the limitation period – Further, the requirement of Or.VII, r.6, CPC is also clear – The plaint should show the ground upon which the exemption from the normal period of limitation is claimed – It is not the mere use of general words such as ‘fraud’ that can serve as the foundation for the plea – Such expressions are quite ineffective to give the legal basis in the absence of particular statements of fact which alone can furnish the requisite basis for the action – Thus, the fraud relating to the sale transaction as alleged itself would not help the plaintiff in getting over the plea of limitation in this case – Under/s.17, Limitation Act, the plaintiff should have been kept out of knowledge of his right to sue by means of fraud – The alleged fraud relating to the sale transaction itself has nothing to do with the question viz., that the plaintiff had been kept out of knowledge of her right to file a suit for cancellation of the sale deed because of fraud – High Court committed no error in passing the impugned judgment. [Paras 17-19, 21, 22]
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Headnotes prepared by: Divya Pandey. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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