Simplified Act

Simplified Explanation:

(1) If you want to start a lawsuit or make a legal request and the time you have to do this is
limited by law, but:

 (a) the reason for your lawsuit or request is because someone tricked you;
 (b) someone hid information from you on purpose to stop you from knowing you had a right
to sue or make your request;
 (c) you're asking for a fix because you made a mistake;
 (d) someone hid important documents from you on purpose which you needed to prove your
case,

then the clock on your time limit doesn't start ticking until you find out about the trickery or
mistake, or until you could have found out if you had tried hard enough. If documents were
hidden, the clock starts when you first could get those documents or force them to be given to
you.

However, you can't start a lawsuit or make a request to get back property or cancel a deal
involving property if:

 (i) someone else bought the property for a fair price without being part of the trickery and
didn't know (or have reason to suspect) that they were being tricked;
 (ii) someone else bought the property for a fair price after the mistake was made without
knowing (or having reason to suspect) the mistake;
 (iii) someone else bought the property for a fair price without being part of hiding the
documents and didn't know (or have reason to suspect) the documents were hidden.

(2) If the person who lost in court stopped you from carrying out the court's decision by
tricking you or using force, and the time limit to enforce the decision has passed, you can ask
the court to give you more time. But you have to make this request within one year of finding
out about the trickery or when the force stopped.

Explanation using Example

Imagine Jane purchased a house from Bob in 2015. In 2022, she discovers that Bob had
falsified documents to hide that a part of the property was under dispute, which is a fraud as
per the law. Normally, the limitation period for filing a suit regarding property disputes
would have lapsed. However, under Section 17 of The Limitation Act, 1963, the limitation
period for Jane to file a suit against Bob for fraud will start from the moment she discovered
the fraud in 2022, not from the date of the property purchase in 2015.
Discuss the effects of fraud, mistake, and Acknowledgment under the Limitation Act,
1963. State the conditions for a valid acknowledgment.

Effect of fraud or mistake – The period of limitation starts only after fraud or mistake is
discovered by the affected party. [section 17(1)]. In Vidarbha Veneer Industries Ltd. v.
UOI – 1992 (58) ELT 435 (Bom HC), it was held that limitation starts from the date of
knowledge of a mistake of law. It may be even 100 years from the date of payment.

The cardinal principle enshrined in section 17 of the Limitation Act is that fraud nullifies
everything. Thus, an appeal against the party can be admitted beyond limitation, if the party
has committed fraud (in submitting non-genuine documents at adjudication in this case) – CC
v. Candid Enterprises 2001(130) ELT 404 (SC 3 member bench).

SECTION 18 OF LIMITATION ACT

CASE LAW
As held in Subbarsadya vs Narasimha, AIR 1936 It is not necessary that an
acknowledgment within Section 18 must contain a promised to pay or should amount to a
promise to pay.