989 (3 ) CCC 86 (SC ), 1989 (43 )ELT790 (S.C. ), [1989 (59 )FLR631 ], 1989 INSC 268 , 1990 ( )JLJ230 (SC), JT1989 (3 )SC 530 , 1990 LabIC398 , 1989 (2 )LLN500 (SC ), 1989 ( )MPJR(SC)802 , 1989 (2 )SCALE510 , (1989 )4 SCC582 , [1989 ]Supp1 SCR43 , 1990 (1 )SLJ98 (SC ), 1989 (5 )SLR779 (SC ), 1989 (7 )SLR449 (SC ), (1990 )1 UPLBEC74 , ,MANU/SC/0002/1990E.S. Venkataramiah#Sabyasachi Mukherjee#Ranganath Misra#G.L. Oza#B.C. Ray#K.N. Singh#S. Natarajan#7578SC10750Judgment/OrderAIR#CCC#ELT#FLR#INSC#JLJ#JT#LabIC#LLN#MANU#MPJR#SCALE#SCC#SCR(Supp)#SLJ#SLR#SLR#UPLBECRanganath Misra,SUPREME COURT OF INDIA2012-9-24Suit for declaration,Suits for which there is no prescribed period,Scope of the Article,Suits Relating To Declarations,Law of Limitation20223,17033,17163,25165,25166,16975 -->

MANU/SC/0002/1990

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

Civil Appeal No. 207 of 1984

Decided On: 06.09.1989

Appellants: S.S. Rathore Vs. Respondent: State of Madhya Pradesh

Hon'ble Judges/Coram:
E.S. Venkataramiah, C.J., Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Ranganath Misra, G.L. Oza, B.C. Ray, K.N. Singh and S. Natarajan

ORDER

Ranganath Misra, J.

1. This appeal is by special leave and is directed against the judgment of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh by which the High Court has in second appeal upheld the dismissal of the plaintiff's suit on the plea of limitation.

2. The plaintiff, a Government servant of Madhya Pradesh, was dismissed from service by the Collector on 13th of January, 1966. He preferred an appeal to the Divisional Commissioner and that appeal was dismissed on 31.8.1966. The order of dismissal of the appeal was communicated to the plaintiff on 19.9.1966. The plaintiff gave notice under Section 80 of the Code of Civil procedure on 17.6.1969 and filed his suit on 30th of September, 1969, asking for a declaration that the order of dismissal was inoperative and he continued to be in service. This suit has been dismissed in the Courts below on acceptance of the defence plea that it had not been filed within three year form the date when the cause of action first arose, as required under Article 58 of the First Schedule of the Limitation Act, 1963.

3. When this appeal came up for hearing before a Division Bench reliance was placed on the decision of this Court in Sita Ram God v. The Municipal Board, Kanpur and Ors.   MANU/SC/0130/1958 : 1959 SCR 1148 in support of the contention that the suit was barred by limitation. The Division Bench extracted a passage from Goel's judgment where it said:

'The result is no doubt unfortunate for the appellant because the trial court found in his favour in regard to his plea of wrongful dismissal. If he had only brought the suit within the period prescribed by Section 326 of the Act, he might possibly have got some relief from the Court. He however, chose to wait till the decision of the