ALTAF FAKIR BAIG Vs. GOEL GANGA DEVE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Aggrieved by a judgment and order dtd. 31/8/2021, passed by the Civil Judge Senior Division Pune in Special Civil Suit No.794 of 2021, Appellants have preferred this First Appeal. By the impugned judgment, the trial Court rejected Appellants' plaint under Order VII Rule 11(d) of the Code of Civil Procedure ("CPC", for brevity), as barred by law of limitation.

(2.) Appeal was listed for admission today. Since the issue was short, i.e., could trial Court summarily reject the plaint under Order VII Rule 11(d) on the ground of law of limitation, since limitation is a mixed question of law and fact, with the consent of the counsel we decided to take up the Appeal for final hearing at admission stage.

(3.) It is Appellants' case that they have averred in the plaint as to when the cause of action arose and Appellants should be given an opportunity in trial to prove and establish those averments, the issue of limitation being a mixed question of law and fact. It is also Appellants' case that rejection of plaint under Order VII Rule 11 of CPC is a drastic power conferred on the Court to determine the civil action at the threshold, and, therefore, when a plaintiff claims that he came to the knowledge of certain fact or that the cause of action arose only at a particular point of time, the same has to be accepted at the stage of considering the application under Order VII Rule 11 of CPC.