In Brief
In this ancestral property dispute governed by the Punjab Limitation (Custom) Act, 1920, the plaintiff obtained a declaratory decree in 1963 declaring a gift deed void, based on a compromise. The decree sheet was formally prepared in 1972, and the plaintiff then filed a suit for possession in 1974. The High Court dismissed the suit as time-barred, treating the limitation period as running from 1971 (when the condition for possession matured with a death). The Supreme Court allowed the appeal, holding that 'declaratory decree is obtained' means the date the decree sheet is formally drawn (1972), not the judgment date (1963). Thus the 1974 suit fell within the three-year limitation period. Alternatively, even if computed from 1971, Section 14 of the Limitation Act, 1963 would exclude time spent pursuing prior execution proceedings in good faith.
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