M.N. Shukla, J. - (1.) THIS reference has been made by the Addl. District and Sessions Judge, Meerut, against the order of the SDM, Mawana, district Meerut. The facts giving rise to this reference lie within a short compass: An exparte order dated 15 -7 -1967 was passed whereby the present Applicant was ordered to pay Rs. 50/ -per month as maintenance allowance to the opposite party Smt. Bakhtawari wife of the Applicant. It appears that the Applicant was never personally served and his contention was that he had no knowledge of the proceedings. Consequently, on 29 -11 -1967 he made an application for setting aside that exparte order as he came to know of those proceedings when the opposite party moved an application for the realisation of the amount and the police served the summons on him on 14 -11 -1967. The application dated 29 -11 -1967 was dismissed by the Magistrate on the ground that the period of three months specified in the proviso to Sub -section (6) of Section 488 Code of Criminal Procedure was to be reckoned from the date of the order and not from the date of the knowledge of the order. The Applicant preferred a revision against the same which has led to the present reference to this Court.
(2.) I fully endorse the view expressed by the 'earned Sessions Judge. The Magistrate completely misdirected himself by holding that the limitation was to be counted from the date of the order. Since this was an order which determined the rights of the parties and cast a liability on the Applicant it was essential for the ends of justice that the party effected thereby must have been apprised of it. In the circumstances the proper course was that the limitation should have been reckoned from the date of the knowledge of the order to the aggrieved party. I am supported in the view that I am taking by a decision of the Andhra Pradesh High Court in Zohra Begam v. Mohammad Ghousa : AIR 1966 AP 50 which has followed the principle laid down by the Supreme Court in Harish Chandra v. Deputy Land Acquisition Officer, 1961 AWR 500. For these reasons, I accept this reference and set aside the order of the Magistrate dated 15 -7 -1967. The case is sent back to the Magistrate concerned for disposal according to law.;