Order Sheet

IN THE HIGH COURT OF SINDH KARACHI

Suit No. 1555 of 2007

Date	Order with signature of Judge

Mr. Aamir Maqsood, advocate for the plaintiff.

Mr. Muhammad Rafiq Kalwar, advocate for defendant No.1.

Date of hearing  :  20.10.2015.

ORDER ON C.M.A. No. 1261 of 2008

NADEEM AKHTAR, J. – This application has been filed by defendant No.1 under Order VII Rule 11 CPC for rejection of the plaint on the ground that the Suit is barred by time under Article 22 of Limitation Act.

2.         It was submitted by Mr. Muhammad Rafiq Kalwar, learned counsel for defendant No.1, that this Suit under the Fatal Accident Act, 1855, instituted on 06.08.2007 is barred by limitation as the alleged cause of action had admittedly accrued to the plaintiff on 31.07.2006 as stated by her in paragraph 10 of the plaint. In support of this submission, he relied upon Article 22 of the Limitation Act, 1908, which provides limitation of one year “for compensation of any other injury to the person” from the date when the injury is committed. The Article relevant and applicable in the instant case is Article 21, which provides limitation of one year by executors, administrators or representatives under the Fatal Accidents Act, 1855, from the date of death of the person killed.

3.         As per Notification No.GAZ/XVII.13 dated 09.05.2007 issued by the Incharge Registrar of this Court, the first date of reopening of this Court after summer vacations in the year 2007 was 06.08.2007. The Suit was admittedly instituted on the aforesaid opening day. Therefore, the Suit is not barred under the provisions of Section 4 of the Limitation Act, 1908. This view is fortified by the recent authority of the Hon’ble Supreme Court reported as Province of Punjab through Collector and others V/S Muhammad Saleem and others, PLD 2014 S.C. 783, wherein it was held inter alia that from the unambiguous language of Section 4 of the Limitation Act, 1908, there can be no doubt that a statutory right has been conferred upon a litigant to the effect that if the period prescribed for filing a Suit, an appeal or an application expires on a day / date which falls during the period or the day when the Court is closed on account of summer vacations, such case / matter may be instituted / preferred by the litigant concerned on the day when the Court reopens ; such right is a right conferred by law and thus for all intends and purposes is a vested right as is known to our jurisprudence ; it is settled law that such vested right should be enforced in letter and spirit at all cost, except where it is unenforceable on account of any specific legal bar or it stands obliterated or taken away by or under the law ; and thus the litigant would be well within his right and shall be absolutely safe to wait till the reopening of the Court even though limitation might have expired during the period when the Court was closed.

4.         For the foregoing reasons, the application is dismissed with no order as to costs.

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               J U D G E