Abdul Razack was charged with having committed an offence falling under sections 175 and 313 of the District Municipalities Act. He was tried by the Judicial Sub-Magistrate of Madurai who held that the prosecution was barred by limitation. Since I propose to confine myself to only this question, the other conclusions reached by the learned Magistrate that in addition to the above defect there was no valid sanction for the prosecution and further that the case did not fall within the scope of section 175 of the District Municipalities Act, are not being dealt with herein. On the acquittal of the accused, Special Leave to appeal was applied for and granted by this Court. In this appeal the correctness of the view taken by the learned Magistrate in acquitting the accused is being canvassed.

For a consideration of the question of limitation, it would be sufficient to state that the accused purported to sell his land in certain plots and those sales had been effected on nth September, 1958. Sanction to prosecute is said to have been granted on 13th May, 1959 and the prosecution itself was launched only on 29th July, 1959.

Section 347 of the District Municipalities Act provides