Limitation for filing a suit based on fraud begins from the date of knowledge, not the date of registration of the deed.

JUDGMENT :

1. Leave granted.

2. The appellants, as plaintiffs, instituted a suit for cancellation of an alleged registered sale deed dated 04.12.2004 said to have been executed by them conveying the plaint scheduled property in favour of the respondents/defendants on 10.04.2017. They have alleged that the said sale deed was brought about through fraudulent means and the plaintiffs came to know of it only on 31.03.2017, when the Deputy Collector issued notice to the appellants on an application filed by the defendants for correcting the revenue entries. After receiving the said notice, the appellants claim to have applied and obtained a certified copy of the alleged sale deed and having realised thereafter that their signatures were forged, they instituted the suit on 18.04.2017 for a declaration and cancellation of the sale deed.

3. Within one month of the institution of the suit, the defendants filed an application under Order 7 Rule 11, CPC, for rejection of plaint on two grounds; the first being that the plaintiffs have not joined the Sub-Registrar as the defendant no. 2 and that the mandatory notice under Section 80 CPC was not given. We are not concerned with this ground. The second ground for rejection of the plaint which has given rise to the present litigation is that the suit is barred by limitation as the registered sale deed was executed on 04.12.2004 and the suit came to be filed only on 10.04.2017, i.e. after a period of 13 years.

4. The Trial Court took up the said application under Order 7 Rule 11, and by its order dated 26.04.2018 allowed the same and dismissed the suit on the following grounds:

“After going through the Sale deed vide mark 4/1 it is crystal clear that the sale deed have been carried out in favour of the Defendant on Prajapati Kodarbhai Kachrabhai in the year 2004 and the present suit has been filed after a delay of 13 years. Further the defendant have rightly relied on the ratio laid down in the case of Kamal Gupta vs. Uma Gupta in Para 31, 32, 33 wherein the Hon'ble Court have held that the plaintiff have filed the present suit after a delay of 16 years and limitation would also apply: The said decision squarely applies to the present case as the present suit has been filed after a period of 13 years and to challenge the Sale deed the period of limitation as prescribed in the Limitation Act is of 3 years has lapsed. The plaintiff have filed the present suit after a delay of 13 years and as such is beyond the period of limitation Further the plaintiff were well aware of the Sale deed from the year 2004. The suit is not maintainable and required to be rejected in terms of provisions under Order 7 Rule 11.”

5. The appeal filed by the appellants was considered by the Principal Judge, Banaskantha at Palanpur and by its judgment dated 17.10.2023 allowed the appeal on the ground that:

(i) The contentions raised in the plaint are that the appellants came to know of the alleged sale deed of 2004 only in the year 2017 when they received notice from the Deputy Collector.

(ii) It is also alleged that the signatures and thumb impression on the document were not of the plaintiffs. They allege that the plaintiff’s signatures and photographs were forged and they were never present at the place when registration took place. The relevant portion of the plaint extracted herein below, was recorded in the order:

“4. That the defendants have made false sale deed on 4.12.2004 of the aforesaid ancestral land of the plaintiffs by doing false signatures and thumb impressions and the same is registered vide Registered Sale deed No. 1643 at Sub Registrar office at Danta. That the plaintiffs have obtained the True copy of the aforesaid false Sale deed from Sub Registrar office at Danta on 10.04.2017 and looking to the same in the said document the plaintiffs have not made their signatures or also not produced any photographs or Identity card of the plaintiffs. At the same time on the stamp paper which is produced, the same is also