Limitation Period Begins from Judgment Pronouncement, Not Receipt of Copy : Supreme Court
In the case of Jharkhand Urja Utpadan Nigam Ltd. & Anr. v. M/s Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd., the Supreme Court ruled that the limitation period for filing an appeal under the Commercial Courts Act, 2015, begins from the date the judgment is pronounced, not from the date the judgment copy is received. The Court emphasized that although Order XX Rule 1 of the CPC requires the court to provide a copy of the judgment, parties must actively seek it and cannot rely on receiving the copy to start the limitation period.
The Court highlighted that a party must make reasonable efforts to obtain the judgment copy within the limitation period. The law of limitation encourages diligence, and any interpretation suggesting otherwise would undermine its purpose and hinder timely resolution of disputes under the Commercial Courts Act.
The petitioners had failed to file an appeal within the 60-day period under Section 13(1-A) of the Act, arguing that the limitation should begin only after receiving the judgment copy. The Court rejected this argument, noting that the petitioners had not even inquired about the availability of the order within the limitation period. It was only months after the pronouncement of the judgment, and after the limitation period expired, that they sought the certified copy.
The Court distinguished its previous decisions, such as Housing Board, Haryana and Sagufa Ahmed, noting that those cases involved parties who had made genuine efforts to obtain the judgment copy. The appeal in this case was dismissed, reinforcing the principle that the limitation period starts from the judgment's pronouncement, not its receipt.