Limitation Act, 1963-Article 136-Decree passed in a partition suit-Period of limitation for execution of such decree commences from the date of the decree and not from the date of engrossment of the decree on the stamp paper-Engrossment of the decree on stamp paper would relate back to the
date of the decree-Indian Stamp Act, 1899-Section 35.
In a suit for partition filed against the predecessor-in-interest of the
appellants, final decree was passed on 7th August, 1981 in favour of the
predecessor-in-interest of the respondents. There was no order of the Court directing the parties to furnish stamp papers for the purposes of engrossing
the decree. The stamp papers required for engrossing the decree were
furnished by respondents on 25th May, 1982 and the decree was engrossed
thereafter. The execution application was filed on 21st March, 1994 in the
High Court. The appellant raised objection that the execution application was barred by limitation in view of Article 136 of the Act, but the execution
court rejected the objection. That order was upheld by the Division Bench
in appeal, which held that unless and until the decree is engrossed on the
stamp paper it is merely a judgement of the Court and there is no decree
available for execution and therefore, the starting point of limitation in
case of execution of a decree in partition suit is the date when the decree is engrossed on the requisite stamp papers as that would be the date when
decree becomes enforceable. Hence the present appeal.