KESHAB CHANDRA RANA Vs. STATE OF ORISSA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE sole question that falls for consideration in this case is one of illegality said to have been committed by the learned Additional District Magistrate, in dealing with the law of limitation, in the House Rent Control Appeal No. 25 of 1966 This appeal arose out of an order passed on 14-2-1966 in the House Rent Control Case no. 10 of 1964 The period of limitation provided in Section 12 of the Orissa House rent Control Act 1958 for such an appeal is fifteen days "from the date on which the order is communicated" to the party aggrieved thereunder In the present case the finding given by the appellate court is that though the order under appeal was delivered on 14-2-1966, it was communicated to the petitioner (who had lost it in the Court of the House Rent Controller) on 18-2-1966. Therefore, according to the appellate court, the petitioner was entitled to prefer the appeal within fifteen days from 18-2-1966. Further, as provided in Section 12 read with Section 29 of the Limitation Act 1963 petitioner was also entitled to the time requisite for obtaining the certified copy of the order appealed from--Subject of course to the condition that the filing of a certified copy of the order appealed against along with the memorandum of appeal under the Orissa House Rent Control Act was at all necessary. The facts stated in the impugned order of the appellate court establish that the application for obtaining the certified copy of the order under appeal was made on 21-2-1966 and notice for supply of requisite folios and stamp was given on 24-2-1966 which was duly complied with on 28-2-1966. Thereafter, the certified copy was ready for delivery on 5-3-1966. Thus under the aforesaid Section 12 of the Limitation Act the entire period from 21-2-1966 to 5-3-1966--barring the period from 24-2-1966 to 28-2-1966 which was wasted due to the negligence on the part of the petitioner was to be excluded in computing the period of limitation for filing the appeal. This period, according to the rule laid down in that section comes in all to ten days and not to six days as wrongly calculated by the appellate court.

(2.) THE court of appeal has therefore patently erred in law in holding, on the facts of the case, that the petitioner was entitled to the exclusion of six days only for securing the certified copy of the order in computing the period of limitation for filing the appeal This error has crept into the order because of the fact that the court of appeal under a misapprehension has refused to allow the period from 212-1966 to 24-2-1966 for the purpose of exclusion and it has deducted it out of the period from 24-2-1966 to 5-3-1966. I must confess that I have not been able to follow the logic of this mode of calculation followed by the court of appeal. That court did not perhaps realise that in following this mode of calculation it was doubling the period that was wasted, for the reason of negligence and default on the part of the petitioner. This the court of appeal could not do.

(3.) MR. R. N. Misra appearing for the Opposite Party concedes that on correct calculation the petitioner is entitled to a total exclusion of ten days for obtaining the certified copy of the order appealed against--in computing the period of limitation for the appeal. Thus, the petitioner was entitled to prefer an appeal within 25 days (15 plus 10) from the "date on which the order was communicated to him" This period of 25 days from 18-2-1966 (on which date according to the court of appeal, that order was communicated to the petitioner) expired on 15-31966: and on that date it is not denied the appeal was filed. As such the appeal was within time.