The main legal point established in the judgment is that in cases of fraudulent suppression of processes, the defrauded party is entitled to exclude the period of ignorance under S.18 of the Limitation Act, and the continuing influence of fraud can prevent the application of limitation periods.

1. The decree holder auction purchaser, is the petitioner. He had obtained a money decree against the 1st defendant. After the death of the 1st defendant his legal representatives were impleaded in execution as additional defendants 2 to 6 of whom the 2nd defendant was the widow and defendants 3 to 6 the children. Defendants 3 to 6 were minors and an order appointing the 2nd defendant as guardian ad litem had been secured. In execution of the decree certain properties of the 1st defendant were sold in court auction on 5.11.1117 i.e. long after the death of the 1st defendant. On 1.10.1118, the 2nd defendant on her behalf and on behalf of her minor sons, defendants 3 to 6, filed a petition to set aside the sale on the ground mainly of fraud. The section of the C.P.C. quoted in the petition was incorrect, but the relief

prayed for showed what the real object of the petition was. The execution court dismissed the petition while the lower appellate court allowed the same and set aside the sale. But the judge passed a conditional order as the defendant's advocate had agreed to deposit the auction amount & c, within a specified period. It was directed that if these amounts were deposited within two months of the date of the lower court order the sale will stand cancelled, and if the deposit was not made appeal was to stand dismissed. It is against the order allowing cancellation of the sale that is sought to be revised.

2. The sale was on 5.11.1117 and the petition to set aside the sale was on 1.10.1118. Art. 151 of the Limitation Act allowed only 30 days from the date of sale to file an application to cancel the same. But in this case the 2nd defendant in paragraph 9 of her petition had stated that she was not aware till then of the decree and the steps in execution taken by the decree-holder. All the steps in execution were alleged to have been taken fraudulently and without any bonafides so as to keep her from knowing anything about the proceedings. The aid of S.18 of the Limitation Act was therefore sought for and it was applied by the learned judge.

3. It has first to be seen whether any fraud was played on the court to keep it unaware of what was really taking place. When the legal representatives of the 1st defendant were sought to be impleaded the widow, 2nd defendant, was proposed as guardian of the minor defendants 3 to 6. Notice of that application was Ext. III and the endorsement was that it was accepted by the 2nd defendant. The 2nd defendant as D.W. 5 had shown that she had not signed it and that it did not contain her signature. The signature appearing against her name in Ext. III is four horizontal straight lines. Exts. V and VI registered documents of 1116, containing her signature had been produced. There her signatures entirely differed from those in Ext. III. The plaintiff secured production of a vakkalath and a petition purporting to have been signed by the 2nd defendant in another case. The 2nd defendant denied to have executed any such vakkalath or signed any petition. Any how the 2nd defendant's alleged signatures in these two records are entirely different from her alleged signature in Ext. III. Ext. IV is another notice sent from the execution side to the 2nd defendant who has alleged to have signed it. There also her signature is as in Ext. III. There is no doubt that the 2nd defendant's signatures in Ext. III and IV were forgeries. The effect of the endorsement that the 2nd defendant had signed Exts. III and IV was that the court was led to believe that the 2nd defendant in her own capacity and as guardian of the minor defendants had no contentions to offer. If the guardian notice had been returned without acceptance, the court would have ordered fresh notice for appointment of another guardian. The court was obliged to proceed with execution because of the false returns. Thus the court was misled by the false returns. That was an act of fraud on court. The 2nd defendant was likewise kept ignoran