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IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH

RSA No.1516 of 2022

Shaina Jain . . . . Appellant

vs.

Naib Singh (now deceased) through LRs

and others . . . . Respondents

Reserved on: February 03, 2026

Pronounced on: February 04, 2026

Pronounced fully/operative part : Fully

CORAM: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE DEEPAK GUPTA

Present:- Mr. Sumeet Mahajan, Sr. Advocate with

Ms. Shrey Sachdeva, Advocate

and Ms. Radhika, Advocate

for appellants

DEEPAK GUPTA, J.

The present Regular Second Appeal has been preferred by defendant

No.2–Shaina Jain, who was the counter-claimant before the learned Trial Court,

assailing the concurrent judgments and decrees passed by the courts below,

whereby her counter-claim seeking declaration that the sale deed dated

07.04.2004, purportedly executed by her through her alleged attorney Surjan

Singh, is null and void, has been dismissed.

2. The factual matrix, in brief, is that the plaintiffs instituted a suit for

specific performance in April 2004 on the basis of an agreement to sell dated

22.10.1998 in respect of land measuring 20 Kanal 19 Marla. It was pleaded that

the defendants, including the present appellant, had executed powers of attorney

in favour of Surjan Singh. During the pendency of the dispute, the owners

executed various sale deeds in favour of third parties, who were subsequently

impleaded as defendants No.3 to 8. The plaintiffs also relied upon a sale deed

dated 07.04.2004, allegedly executed by the present appellant through Surjan

Singh, conveying 4 Kanals 4 Marlas of land as part performance of the agreement.

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3. The defendants contested the suit by denying the agreement to sell

and alleging that the documents were executed only as security for a loan

transaction. The present appellant filed a counter-claim on 29.07.2015, seeking a

declaration that the sale deed dated 07.04.2004 as well as the power of attorney

dated 22.10.1998 were illegal, null and void and liable to be cancelled.

4. After framing issues and taking evidence, the learned Trial Court

dismissed both the suit and the counter-claim vide judgment dated 14.09.2016.

Appeals filed by both sides were dismissed by the learned First Appellate Court

vide judgment dated 07.02.2022.

5. The present appeal is confined only to the dismissal of the counter-

claim.

6. Learned senior counsel for the appellant has primarily contended

that the courts below have erred in holding the counter-claim to be barred by

limitation. It is argued that the plaintiffs themselves pleaded an incorrect date of

the sale deed as 07.07.2004 and that the correct date i.e. 07.04.2004 surfaced

only during evidence. It is further contended that the appellant acquired

knowledge of the impugned sale deed only upon receipt of summons in the suit,

which fact stands admitted by defendant No.1 in his cross-examination, and

therefore, the counter-claim having been filed within three years from the date of

knowledge is within limitation.

7. Ld. Courts below have noted that the sale deed is a registered

document, that the appellant was a party to the proceedings from the very

inception, and that the counter-claim filed after more than a decade from the

execution of the sale deed is clearly barred by limitation.

8. After hearing learned senior counsel for the appellant and upon

careful perusal of the record, this Court finds no merit in the submissions

advanced on behalf of the appellant.

9. The counter-claim seeks cancellation of a registered sale deed and is

governed by Article 59 of the Limitation Act, 1963, which prescribes a period of

three years from the date, when the facts entitling the claimant to have the

instrument cancelled or set aside first become known. In the present case, even if

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the plea of lack of knowledge is examined, the record clearly demonstrates that

the appellant was aware of the execution of the sale deed much prior to the filing

of the counter-