R.S.A.No. 114 of 1988 -1- **** IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH R.S.A. No. 114 of 1988 Date of decision : 30.6.2010 Rajinder Pal ....Appellant Versus Punjab State through its Collector, Amritsar ...Respondent CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE S. D. ANAND Present: Mr. B.R.Mahajan, Advocate for the appellant. Mr. Sandeep Moudgil, Deputy Advocate General, Punjab for the respondent. S. D. ANAND, J. The learned Trial Court decreed the suit, vide judgment and decree dated 5.12.1985, in toto and invalided the impugned order granted by the Superintendent of Police (and affirmed by the IGP, Punjab). In appeal, however, the learned Ist Appellate Court held that the suit was time barred. It did not touch merits thereof. It is apparent from the record that the cause of action accrued to the plaintiff-appellant on 24.4.1980 and the suit was filed on 10.6.1983. These facts are beyond the pale of controversy. There is material on record to prove that a notice under Section 80 C.P.C. was given by the plaintiff-appellant and the suit came to be filed only when no response thereto was received by him. That period of two months has, thus, to be necessarily excluded in computing the period of limitation. The learned Additional District Judge did not take into consideration the period of two months which has been conceputalised by the notice under section 80 R.S.A.No. 114 of 1988 -2- **** C.P.C. which has to be compulsively served before a cause can be filed by any individual against the Government. If we undertake the exercise of calculation in the light thereof, it would be apparent that the suit filed was within limitation. In the light thereof, it is apparent that finding recorded by the learned Ist Appellate Court non-suiting the plaintiff-appellant on point of limitation has to be invalidated and it is so ordered accordingly. The matter has to be adjudicated upon by the learned Ist Appellate Court on merits thereof. It will be for the learned District Judge, Amritsar to either retain the file on his own Board or to assign it to any Court of competent jurisdiction. June 30, 2010 (S. D. ANAND) Pka JUDGE