- (1.) Leave granted. This civil appeal is directed against the judgment and order passed by the High Court of Karnataka at Bangalore in RFA No. 97 of 2003, dated 16.08.2012, whereby the High Court has remanded the matter back to the learned Trial Court for its reconsideration in accordance with law.
(2.) Briefly stated, the admitted facts in the present appeal are: the Plaintiff/Respondent herein and the Defendant/Appellant herein are traders dealing in Areca nuts. The Respondents had purchased 40 bags of Areca nuts from the Appellants for a given amount of money, however it was alleged that the Appellants had failed to pay for the said transaction, dated 13.09.1991. Therefore, the Respondent herein had filed Original Suit No. 117 of 1993, before the Principal Civil Judge (Senior Division), Shimoga, for recovery of the given amount along with interest. It is to be noticed that before filing the said suit on 06.09.1993, the prior sanction, as required Under Section 84(4) of the Karnataka Agricultural Produce Marketing (Regulation) Act, 1966 (for short, "the APMC Act") had not been obtained by the Respondents. It is also an admitted fact that such a sanction was obtained during the pendency of the said suit on 22.07.2002, that is, after a period of about 11 years from the date of cause of action.
(3.) The learned Trial Court, taking into consideration the relevant provisions of the Limitation Act, 1963, took the date of sanction as the relevant date for the purpose of ascertaining whether the said suit was barred by limitation. It was observed that, taking the date of sanction as the date on which the suit was duly instituted, the said suit was not within the prescribed period of limitation, that is, it was not duly instituted within 3 years from the date of cause of action. The learned Trial Court, therefore, had come to the conclusion that the suit filed by the Plaintiff is barred by limitation, vide order dated 05.10.2002.;