HARBIR SINGH Vs. ALI HASAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is an application under Section 5 of the Limitation Act. It prays that the delay in filing the petition for Special leave to appeal under Section 417 (3), Cr. P. C. be condoned.

(2.) LEARNED counsel for the opposite parties has contended that Section 5 of the Limitation Act is inapplicable to a petition for leave under Section 417 (3), Cr. P. C. and as such the application is not maintainable.

(3.) UNDER the Limitation Act of 1908 there was a difference of opinion in the various High Courts as to the ipterpretation of Section 29 (2) of that Limitation Act. Some High Courts including the majority of a Full Bench of this High Court took the view that the Criminal Procedure Code was not a local or special law within the meaning of Section 29 of the Limitation Act. Other High Courts held to the contrary. The Supreme Court in Kaushalya Rani v. Gopal Singh, AIR 1964 SC 260, settled the controversy and held that Section 417 (3) and (4) of the Criminal Procedure Code was a special law and that Section 29 (2) did apply to petitions for leave to appeal under Section 417 (3), Cr. P. C. The provisions of Section 29 of the new Limitation Act No. 36 of 1963, are, from this point of view similar to the corresponding provisions of the earlier Act. The same interpretation would be applicable to it.