SC Order Excluding Period From 15.03.2020 Till 28.02.2022 Applicable To Limitation Prescribed Under Commercial Courts Act Also: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court observed that its order excluding the period from 15.03.2020 till 28.02.2022 for the purposes of limitation is applicable with respect to the limitation prescribed under the Commercial Courts Act, 2015 also.

In this case, the Trial Court, refused to condone the delay in filing the written statement by the defendants. The Bombay High Court, dismissing the petition challenging this order of the Trial Court, observed that  the period of 120 days within which the written statement could have been taken on record, expired on 09.05.2020 which was during the lock-down imposed.

Allowing the appeal filed by the defendants, the bench comprising Justices MR Shah and BV Nagarathna observed that the High Court ought to have excluded the aforesaid period for the purpose of filing the written statement and ought to have permitted to take the written statement on record. 

Referring to the orders passed by it in Re : Cognizance Of Extension Of Limitation 2022 LiveLaw (SC) 31 and Centaur Pharmaceuticals Pvt. Ltd. And Anr. v. Stanford Laboratories Pvt. Ltd. , the court observed:

In that view of the matter, the period from 15.03.2020 till 28.02.2022 shall have to be excluded for the purposes of limitation as may be prescribed under any General or SPECIAL LAWS in respect of all judicial or quasi-judicial proceedings. The Commercial Courts Act, 2015 being a Special Law, the said order shall also be applicable with respect to the limitation prescribed under the Commercial Courts Act, 2015 also.

The bench, therefore, directed the Trial Court to take on record the written statement filed by the appellant-defendant.

Suo Motu Limitation Extension Order

The Supreme Court had issued the following directives in its order dated January 10, 2022:

I. The order dated 23.03.2020 is restored and in continuation of the subsequent orders dated 08.03.2021, 27.04.2021 and 23.09.2021. It is directed that the period from 15.03.2020 till 28.02.2022 shall stand excluded for the purposes of limitation as may be prescribed under any general or special laws in respect of all judicial or quasi-judicial proceedings.

II. Consequently, the balance period of limitation remaining as on 03.10.2021, if any, shall become available with effect from 01.03.2022.

III. In cases where the limitation would have expired during the period between 15.03.2020 till 28.02.2022, notwithstanding the actual balance period of limitation remaining, all persons shall have a limitation period of 90 days from 01.03.2022. In the event the actual balance period of limitation remaining, with effect from 01.03.2022 is greater than 90 days, that longer period shall apply.

IV. It is further clarified that the period from 15.03.2020 till 28.02.2022 shall also stand excluded in computing the periods prescribed under Sections 23 (4) and 29A of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, Section 12 A of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015 and provisos (b) and (c) of Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 and any other laws, which prescribe period(s) of limitation for instituting proceedings, outer limits (within which the court or tribunal can condone delay) and termination of proceedings.

Case details

Babasaheb Raosaheb Kobarne vs Pyrotek India Private Limited | 2022 LiveLaw (SC) 520 | SLP(C) 2522/2022 | 9 May 2022

Coram: Justices MR Shah and BV Nagarathna

Headnotes

Commercial Courts Act, 2015 - Order excluding period between 15.03.2020 till 28.02.2022 for the purposes of limitation in Re : Cognizance Of Extension Of Limitation 2022 LiveLaw (SC) 31 - Applicable with respect to the limitation prescribed under the Commercial Courts Act, 2015 also. - Referred to Centaur Pharmaceuticals Pvt. Ltd. And Anr. v. Stanford Laboratories Pvt. Ltd. 

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