Specific Relief

Supreme Court Clarifies When a Limitation Plea Can Be Tried as a Preliminary Issue in Title Suits

In John Mathew v. Santha Paul, the Supreme Court set aside a decade of rulings on limitation in a suit challenging a power-of-attorney sale deed, holding that Order XIV Rule 2(2) CPC permits a qualifying issue to be tried first only before the court has embarked on a composite trial of all issues — not after evidence has already been led. The Court also left open, for retrial, whether the suit is governed by the three-year period for cancelling an instrument or the twelve-year period for recovering possession.