Covid Extension of Limitation by the Supreme Court

When courts closed in March 2020, litigants across India faced the expiry of limitation periods they had no practical way to meet. The Supreme Court took suo motu cognizance and, by a series of orders under Articles 141 and 142 of the Constitution, extended limitation for all judicial and quasi-judicial proceedings. The final position, settled on 10 January 2022, excludes the period from 15 March 2020 to 28 February 2022. This note sets out the orders, the rules for computation, their scope and limits, and the leading cases interpreting them.

1. The Orders

Figure 1: In Re: Cognizance for Extension of Limitation

• Source of power. The Court acted under Article 142, to do complete justice, and Article 141, making its orders binding on all courts and tribunals. The orders applied to periods under general or special laws, whether condonable or not.
• Two waves. The extension was first ended on 8 March 2021, restored on 27 April 2021 during the second wave, and finally ended by the order of 10 January 2022 during the third wave.

2. The Final Position: 10 January 2022

Figure 2: How to compute limitation now

• Exclusion. The period from 15 March 2020 to 28 February 2022 stands excluded for limitation in all judicial and quasi-judicial proceedings.
• Expired within the window. Where limitation would have expired between those dates, every person has 90 days from 1 March 2022; if the actual balance remaining from 1 March 2022 is longer than 90 days, the longer period applies.
• Other periods. The exclusion also applies to ss.23(4) and 29A of the Arbitration Act (pleadings and the time for the award), s.12A of the Commercial Courts Act (mediation), provisos (b) and (c) to s.138 of the NI Act (notice and payment), and any other law prescribing periods for instituting proceedings, outer limits for condonation, and termination of proceedings.
• Example. An appeal period of 90 days began to run on 1 February 2020. About six weeks had run by 15 March 2020, and the remainder would have expired within the excluded window. The appellant therefore had 90 days from 1 March 2022, since that was longer than the balance of about seven weeks.

3. Scope and Limits

Figure 3: What the orders covered

• Sagufa Ahmed v Upper Assam Plywood (2020). The early orders extended only the period of limitation, not the outer period up to which a tribunal could condone delay in its discretion. The order of 8 March 2021 and later orders expressly extended such outer limits too.
• S. Kasi v State (2020). The orders did not extend the time for completing investigation under s.167(2) of the CrPC. An accused's right to default bail on the expiry of 60 or 90 days was unaffected.
• Prakash Corporates v Dee Vee Projects (2022). The exclusion applied to the 120-day outer limit for filing a written statement in a commercial suit.
• Tax deadlines. Statutory time limits for tax assessments and compliance were extended separately by Parliament through the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act, 2020.

4. Frequently Asked Questions

What period was excluded by the Supreme Court's Covid orders?

By the order of 10 January 2022 in In Re: Cognizance for Extension of Limitation, the period from 15 March 2020 to 28 February 2022 stands excluded for limitation in all judicial and quasi-judicial proceedings. Where limitation expired in that period, the party has 90 days from 1 March 2022 or the longer remaining balance.

Did the Covid orders extend the period for default bail?

No. In S. Kasi v State (2020), the Supreme Court held that its orders extending limitation did not affect the time for completing investigation under s.167(2) of the CrPC, so an accused remained entitled to default bail when the statutory period expired without a charge sheet.

5. Related Topics

• Topic 8: Continuous Running of Time, Section 9. Why a court order was needed to stop time.
• Topic 25: Limitation under Other Statutes. Arbitration, IBC and commercial periods.