PANCHAYAT KHATRIAN BARAN Vs. BHANWAR LAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is a second appeal in a suit for ejectment. The first Appeal was held to be barred by time by the learned Civil Judge, Baran.

(2.) IN this second appeal it is argued that the appeal was within time, and the learned Judge had committed error in arriving at a contrary conclusion. The facts are not disputed. The judgment of the trial court was given on 31st August, 1933, and an application for copy of the judgment and decree was made on 4th September, 1953. The copies were given on the 15th September, 1953. By excluding the period from the date of application for copy to the date of delivery of the copy, the appeal should have been filed on the 12th October, 1953. Learned counsel urged that the lower court should have further excluded the time from the 1st of September to the 3rd of September, because the decree had not been signed till the 11th of September, 1953. The point is concluded by a decision of this Court in Beharidas vs. Jagdish (l), where the Allahabad view found in Bechi vs. Ahsanullah Khan (2) was accepted in preference to the decision of some other High Courts. The following observation in the Allahabad case were accepted to be good law: - "the time requis for obtaining a copy of the decree cannot refer to any period antecedent to the appellant's asking for a copy by the usual mode for applying therefor, or to any period subsequent to its being ready for delivery. " Learned counsel urged that the next sentence was in his favour. This sentence is: - "if at the time when the application for a copy is made, the decree is not ready, he will of course be entitled to the allowance of such portion of time during which the decree remains unsigned, along with the time which may be occupied in preparing the copy for delivery; the reason being obvious that the act of obtaining has already commenced and the dealy in such a case could not be referred to any omission or neglect on his part. " This sentence only menas that any time from the date of the application for copy to the date of the preparation of the decree will be exculded along with that perid which is required for perparing the copy of the document.