Reilly, J.

1. This is an appeal against the order of the District Judge of South Malabar in an insolvency matter. The appellant, a creditor of the insolvent, has put in a claim before the Official Receiver for an amount which he says is due to him from the insolvent. The learned District Judge has found that the Official Receiver is entitled to set off against that claim a time-barred debt due from the creditor to the insolvent. I do not think it can be disputed, and I did not understand Mr. Anantaraman for the Official Receiver to dispute, that a creditor in an insolvency can prove only a debt which at the date of the adjudication has not become time barred. If we examine Sections 34 and 28(2) of the Provincial Insolvency Act, I do not think that there can be any doubt on that point. But It is suggested that, although the creditor cannot recover from the insolvent a time-barred debt and although a day before he is adjudged insolvent the insolvent himself could not set off against the creditor a time-barred claim, the Official Receiver has a higher right and can set off against the creditors claim a time-barred claim. That appears to me to be a very startling proposition. Mr