Art.137 of the Limitation Act 1963 applies to any petition or application filed under any Act to a civil court, including petitions under special Acts like the Indian Telegraph Act.

1. This appeal is by social leave from the judgment dated 3rd June, 1974 of the High Court of Kerala.

2. The respondent filed a petition under S.10 and 16(5) of the Indian Telegraph Act 1885 read with S.51 of the Indian Electricity Act 1910 claiming compensation against the appellant.

3. The Kerala State Electricity Board is constituted under S.5 of the Indian Electricity Supply Act, 1948. The Board cut and removed some trees standing on the property of the respondent for the purpose of laying electric line from Calicut to Cannanore. The Board assessed the compensation at Rs. 1619-90.

4. On 10th March, 1972 the respondent filed a petition before the District Judge, Tellicherry under S.16(3) of the Indian Telegraph Act 1885 claiming an enhanced compensation of Rs 19,367.60. The Board raised several objections. One of the objections was that the petition was barred by time under Art.137 of the Limitation Act, 1963. The Board contended that the notice intimating the fixing of the compensation was served on 4th March, 1969 and therefore the petition was barred by time. The respondent contended that Art.137 of the 1963 Limitation Act did not apply to applications to the District Judge under the Indian Telegraph Act The District Judge held that the application was governed by Art.137 of the 1963 Limitation Act, and, therefore, the petition was filed beyond three years and was barred by time.

5. The respondent filed revision petitions to the High Court of Kerala. The respondent also applied for condonation of delay in filing the revision petitions in the High Court. The High Court condoned the delay in filing the petitions. The High Court in view of the decision of the High Court in Kerala State Electricity Board v. Parvathi Amma 1973 KLT.1004 set aside the order of the District Judge and remitted the matter back to the Court for disposal in accordance with law.

6. The provision contained in Art.137 of the Limitation Act 1963 is as follows:

The view of the Kerala High Court is that Art.137 of the Limitation Act 1963 has the same meaning as Art.181 of the Indian Limitation Act 1908.

Article 181 of the Indian Limitation Act, 1908 was as follows:

7. In the Kerala State Electricity Board case (supra) the High Court held that in view of the decision of this Court in Town Municipal Council, Athani v. Presiding Officer Labour Court, Hubli & Ors (1970) 1 SCR. 51 the same construction should be put upon Art.137 as had been put upon Art.181. In the Athani Municipal Council case (supra) the workmen applied to the Labour Court under S.33C (2) of the Industrial Disputes Act for computation of benefit in respect of over time. The Labour Court accepted the application of the workmen. The Athani Municipal Council challenged the decision of the Labour Court in a writ petition. On appeal to this Court it was contended that the jurisdiction of the Labour Court was barred by the provisions of Minimum Wages Act 1948 and second the applications to the Labour Court were time barred under Art.137 of the Limitation Act, 1963. This Court held as follows. The alteration in the 1963 Limitation Act in Art.137, namely, the inclusion of the words "other proceedings" in the long title to the 1963 Limitation Act, the omission of the preamble and the change in the definition so as to include petition in the word "application" do not show any intention to make Art.137 applicable to proceedings before bodies other than courts such as quasi-judicial tribunals and executive bodies. The word "other" in the first column of the Article giving the description of the application "any other application for which no period of limitation is provided elsewhere in this division" indicates that the interpretation of Art.181 in the 1908 Limitation Act on the basis of ejusdem generis should be applied to Art.137. The application was presented to the Labour Court, a tribunal which was not a court governed by the Civil or Criminal Procedure Codes, and, therefore, the applications