According to Article 246(3) of the Constitution of India, Parliament and the Legislature of any State also have power to make laws with respect to any of the matters enumerated in List III in the Seventh Schedule in the Constitution referred to as the ‘Concurrent List’. The entry 13 of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution contains “Civil procedure, including all matters included in the Code of Civil Procedure at the commencement of this Constitution, limitation and arbitration.”
Image Source: validitymag.com
ADVERTISEMENTS:
In Ramprosad v. Vijayakrishnan, (AIR 1967 SC 278), the Supreme Court has held that legislature may enact statutes prescribing the period of limitation under Article 246 and the entry 13 of the List III of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution within which actions may be brought or varying or changing the existing law of limitation by shortening or extending the time without violating fundamental rights.
In Navrattammal v. State, (AIR 1961 SC 1704), it was contended the validity of Article 149 (new Art. 112 of Limitation Act, 1963) of the r Limitation Act, 1908 providing special period of limitation to the State violated | Article 14 of the Constitution.
The Supreme Court has negatived the plea and held that the Article 149 (New Art. 112) does not violate Article 14 of the Constitution, as the statutes of limitation are designed to effectuate a beneficial public purpose does not militate against there being a rational basis for a distinction being drawn between the claims of the State and the claims of the individual and that the loss of the claims of the State by limitation is the loss of the community in general and this justifies the differential treatment in favour of the State.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
However, in T. Motichand v. Munshi, (AIR 1970 SC 898), the Supreme Court has held that no period of limitation can be prescribed for a person aggrieved by the State action challenging such action as violating fundamental rights and filing a petition under Article 32 of the Constitution before the Supreme Court. Such principle of limitation period would have the effect of putting curbs in the way of the enforcement of fundamental rights and might be challenged under Art. 13(2) of the Constitution which states “The State shall not make any law which takes away or abridges the rights conferred by this part and any law made in contravention of this clause shall, to the extent of the contravention, be void.”