The Supreme Court has said an appeal whose filing deadline falls during court holidays has to be lodged on the day courts reopen. The Supreme Court said a litigant who misses that first working day without a satisfactory reason cannot rely on the statutory relief available under Section 4 of the 1908 law. The Limitation Act sets the time limits for bringing cases, and the ruling was reported on October 15 from Islamabad.
The case and its dates
The judgment arose from two civil appeals over ownership of land. Chief Justice Yahya Afridi presided over the bench, with Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi writing the judgment. The court found that the Lahore High Court had made an error in working out the limitation period, and it set aside that court's judgment dated October 27, 2015.
The dates in the case go back to 1995. A civil court accepted objections from the applicants on July 3, 1995; they described themselves as buyers of the land in dispute. The appeal window against that order was 30 days under Article 152. The applicants requested certified copies on July 5, 1995, and received them on September 4, 1995.
The summer break ran between August 1 and September 9, 1995, during which civil courts did not sit. September 10 was a Sunday, so the courts resumed work on September 11. Rather than filing that day, the appellants lodged their appeals on September 12 and 13, one and two days after the courts reopened.
Why the court ruled against the appeals
The judgment accepted that Article 12(5) of the Limitation Act lets the period used up in getting a certified copy be left out of the calculation. Applying the Supreme Court appeals rules, the bench said that point was not the deciding one. What mattered was whether the appeals were lodged on the day courts resumed after the vacation, and the High Court had not examined that point properly.
Because the appellants offered no satisfactory reason for being late, they could not use the protection of Section 4. The Supreme Court therefore allowed both appeals, set aside the High Court's judgments, and restored the orders of the Additional District Judge in Multan, dated 15 and 16 December 2000.
Aasan alfaaz mein
Supreme Court ne kaha hai ke agar appeal ki akhri tareekh court ki chhutiyon mein aaye, to appeal adalat dobara khulne ke pehle din daakhil karni hogi. Der ho jaye aur uski wajah wazeh na ho, to Section 4 ka faida nahi milega. Yeh faisla zameen ki milkiyat ke do case par aaya, jahan 1995 ki deri ka maamla tha. Aam logon ke liye matlab yeh hai ke chhutiyon mein bhi appeal ki tareekh ka hisaab rakhna zaroori hai.
