The
lockdown placed into effect due to Coronavirus pandemic has severely affected
the functioning of courts and tribunals across the country. Almost all high
courts and tribunals across the country and Hon'ble Supreme Court have issued
circulars restricting the functioning of courts to only ‘extremely urgent
matters’, resulting in the closure of courts for most of the matters.
Many
courts/tribunals have taken cognizance of issues that are likely to be
faced because of the lockdown, including the matters that were yet to be filed
and the matters where deadlines/limitation for filings would fall within the
lockdown period.
The
issue of limitation during the lockdown period has been addressed by the
Hon'ble Supreme Court of India, on March 23, 2020, whereby exercising its
powers under Article 142 of the Constitution of India, passed an order in Suo motu Civil
Writ Petition bearing No. 3 of 2020 on the issue of law of
limitation and observed that:
“To obviate such difficulties and to ensure
that the lawyers/ litigants do not have to come physically to file such
proceedings in respective Courts/Tribunals across the country including this
Court, it is hereby ordered that a period of limitation in all such
proceedings, irrespective of the limitation prescribed under general law or
Special Laws whether condonable or not shall stand extended w.e.f. 15th March, 2020 till further orders
to be passed by this Court in present proceedings.”
The complete order can be read at https://main.sci.gov.in/supremecourt/2020/10787/10787_2020_1_12_21570_Order_23-Mar-2020.pdf
Effect/Interpretation
of Supreme Court's order:
There
are two possible interpretations of the order passed by Supreme Court which I
am going to discuss herein.
1. The prescribed period of limitation shall be extended with effect from
15-03-2020 till further orders are passed by the Supreme Court once the
lockdown is lifted. In that case, if the prescribed period of limitation to
file any litigation had expired during the period mentioned in the order passed
by Supreme Court, the said litigation shall be required to be filed on the day
when the court reopens after the lockdown stands lifted. Such provision derives
its origin from Section 4 of Limitation Act, which specifies the law
relating to limitation in the event of "Courts being closed",
though it does not specifically relates to lockdown in entire country due to
pandemic.
2. Second
interpretation is that the limitation in whole, shall be extended with effect
from 15-03-2020, in the manner that the timer of limitation would stop ticking
from the time of passing of order, till the date when the same is allowed to
start again by passing an order afresh. Meaning thereby, the period between
15-03-2020 i.e. stopping the limitation till further orders are passed by the
Supreme Court, would be entirely excluded while computing the period of
limitation and the timer of limitation would resume only from the day on which
the further order is passed by Supreme Court.
As
such, the entire period of lockdown would be totally excluded while calculating
the period of limitation, which in turn, shall compensate the litigants for the
time lost due to lockdown.
For
example, if 30 days' limitation to file a complaint u/s 138 of Negotiable
Instruments Act commences on 10th March, 2020, the timer of limitation would
stop ticking on 15-03-2020 and would resume once the lockdown is
lifted. Assuming the lockdown is lifted on 03-05-2020 as per the present
situation, then the litigant would still have 25 days to file his complaint.
In my opinion, the second construction is more
realistic as this is the correct way to interpret the order passed by Supreme
Court on March 23,2020, as any other construction would be detrimental to the
rights of the litigants. In the event of any other interpretation, the
litigants shall have to file large number of applications for condonation of
delay, causing multiplicity of litigation and ultimately, delay in deciding the
matters.
The present situation is unprecedented and
never-faced-before one, where not only the temples of justice are closed, but
most of the facilities required for preparation of filing like printing,
photocopy, stamping and other formalities etc. are
practically unavailable due to the lockdown. Accordingly, only the
second interpretation of order dated March 23, 2020, appears logical and in
interest of not only justice but of public of India
Chander Kalia is an eminent lawyer practicing at
District Courts, Ludhiana
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