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Nikhila Divyang Mehta and Another v. Hitesh P. Sanghvi and Others

Civil Appeal · 2025 INSC 485Decided 15 Apr 2025
C.A. No.-005180-005180 - 2025 (arising out of S.L.P. (C) No. 13459 of 2024)
Justice Pankaj Mithal · Justice S.V.N. Bhatti

Background

After their father died in October 2014, a son (the plaintiff) learned from his sisters in the first week of November 2014 that their father had left a Will and Codicil the son had not been told about. He filed a civil suit in Ahmedabad only on 21.11.2017, seeking to have the Will and Codicil declared null and void. Some of the sisters and a nephew applied to have the plaint rejected as time-barred; the trial court agreed, but the Gujarat High Court reversed that and sent the matter back for a full trial on the limitation question.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court restored the trial court's rejection of the plaint, holding that under Article 58 of the Limitation Act a suit for such a declaration must be filed within three years of when the right to sue first accrues: here, by the plaintiff's own pleadings, that was in the first week of November 2014 at the latest. Since the suit was filed on 21.11.2017, just past the three-year mark, it was barred on the face of the plaint itself, and no evidence needed to be taken to establish this. The Court also rejected the argument that "having knowledge" and "full knowledge" of the Will could be different dates for limitation purposes, calling that distinction a fallacy invented without any factual basis in the plaint.

Lesson Learnt

In India, a lawsuit to challenge a Will as invalid must generally be filed within three years of learning about it. Courts can, and must, dismiss a suit at the outset if the plaintiff's own pleaded dates show it was filed even slightly too late, without needing a trial.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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