A K NANU Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These appeals arise from the common judgment in OP Nos. 6991, 6999 and 6992 of 1986 whereby the learned Judge held that, in respect of a debt recoverable by recourse to the provisions of the Kerala Revenue Recovery Act, 1968 (the "Act"), the bar of limitation prescribed under the Limitation Act, 1963 was inapplicable The learned Judge stated:

(2.) Counsel for the appellants submits that, in the absence of any provision in the Act creating a substantive right and a substantive liability, an amount which is no longer payable by the debtor by reason of the bar of limitation is no longer due from the debtor or recoverable under the Act. The Act creates a special mode of recovery, but does not create any right to recover the amount outside the period of limitation. A time-barred debt, counsel submits, is not recoverable under the Act.

(3.) Counsel for the respondent bank contends that the object of the Act is to recover in public interest any amount in respect of which the creditor has a right to recover and the debtor has a duty to pay. The Act by providing a special remedy enables the creditor to recover even time-barred debts. So long as the substantive right of the bank and the corresponding substantive obligation of the debtor by reason of the loan are not extinguished, the remedy to recover the loan is preserved by the Act. The Limitation Act, therefore, has, according to counsel, no application.