J. Thansiama vs State Of Mizoram & Ors

1. The Gauhati High Court by the impugned judgment and order dated 01.08.2005 has held the Limitation Act, 1963 to be applicable to the State of Mizoram. Consequential to the said conclusion of the High Court, the suit filed by the appellant for declaration of title etc. was dismissed as being time barred. This was in reversal of the decree passed by the learned Trial Court on merits after holding that the Limitation Act, 1963 would not be applicable to bar the suit of the appellant-plaintiff.

2. The High Court in a very exhaustive and illuminating judgment has traced the history of the creation of the present day State of Mizoram. Equally, the laborious arguments advanced by the learned counsel for the parties have thrown further light into the evolution of the present day State. However, we do not consider it necessary to burden this order by referring to the said details except to record what would be strictly required for the purposes of the present adjudication, namely, that the present day State of Mizoram was earlier known as Lushai Hills District and formed part of the original undivided State of Assam. The said district was included in the list of tribal areas of the State of Assam under Part-A of the table appended to Para 20 of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution. Thereafter, Lushai Hills District was renamed as Mizo District by the Lushai Hills District (Change of Name) Act, 1954. A consequential change in Para 20 of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution was also made.

4. The Governor of Assam issued Notification bearing No. TAD/GA/12/64 dated 14.3.1966 whereby the operation of the Limitation Act 1963 was excluded from the tribal areas of Assam as specified in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, the details of which have been extracted above. The Notification dated 14.3.1966 is in the following terms :

9. What, however, would require a pointed notice is that the Notification dated 14.03.1966 issued by the Governor of Assam excluding the operation of the Limitation Act from the tribal areas of the State of Assam ceased to be applicable to the Mizo District once the areas therein no long formed a part of the tribal areas of Assam and, instead, became a part of the tribal areas of the Union Territory of Mizoram with effect from 21.1.1972. The further developments (historical, geographical and constitutional), namely, the exclusion/omission of the Mizo district even from the tribal areas of the Union Territory of Mizoram; the dissolution of the Mizo District Council and the addition of Pawai, Lakher and Chakma Districts to part III of Para 20 of the Sixth Schedule as the tribal areas of the Union Territory of Mizoram, of which all developments had occurred subsequent to the creation of the Union Territory of Mizoram, would further fortify the above position. The aforesaid facts would demonstrate that the Notification dated 14.03.1966 ex facie would not apply to the areas within the erstwhile Mizo District of the State of Assam once the said areas ceased to be so and came to comprise the Union Territory of Mizoram with effect from 21.1.1972 by virtue of Section 6 of the Reorganisation Act.

14. We also do not find any substance in the arguments advanced on behalf of the appellant that the Notification dated 14.3.1966 would continue to be applicable to the Union Territory and the successor State of Mizoram by virtue of Section 24 of the General Clauses Act. We do not see how the said provisions of the General Clauses Act can have any application to the present case.

15. Consequently, we dismiss the present appeal and affirm the view taken by the High Court.