Limitation Act 1908 in Pakistan: 25 Limitation Periods That Can Make or Break Your Case

Why One Missed Date Can End a Case Before It Even Starts

A client can have the strongest facts, the clearest evidence, and a fully justified claim, and still lose the case on day one, simply because the appeal, suit, or application was filed a few days late. In Pakistan, this outcome is governed by the Limitation Act 1908, and it does not care how strong the merits are. Once a proceeding is time barred, the court generally cannot even look at the merits.

This guide is built around a genuine working reference for advocates and law students: a complete, verified table of limitation periods under the Limitation Act 1908 in Pakistan, correctly matched to the actual First Schedule of the Act, along with the practical, step by step way to calculate a deadline, what to do when a client walks in close to the limit, and where delay or malafide intention commonly becomes the real issue in a case.

What Governs Limitation in Pakistan, in One Paragraph

The Limitation Act 1908 has two working parts. The sections set the general rules, how to compute time, when delay can be excused, how certified copy time gets excluded. The First Schedule is the actual table, one article number per proceeding, with the period and the date it starts running from. That is really all you need to know before using it. One practical catch: if a special law, like the Family Courts Act 1964 or a provincial Consumer Protection Act, sets its own period for a specific proceeding, that special period wins over the Limitation Act for that proceeding.

A quick real scenario: A client walks in with a certified copy of a District Court decree, obtained 40 days ago, wanting to file an appeal to the High Court. Is he in time? Article 156 gives 90 days for an appeal to the High Court, so yes, he still has time, and the days spent waiting for the certified copy itself would have been excluded anyway under Section 12.

Now change one fact: the decree was passed by the High Court in its original jurisdiction, so it needs an Intra Court Appeal instead.

That is Article 151, only 20 days. The same 40 day gap that was safe a moment ago has already killed the case. This is exactly why matching the correct article to the correct proceeding, on day one, matters more than almost anything else in the file.

Complete List of Limitation Periods Under the Limitation Act 1908 in Pakistan

Below is a verified table of the proceedings advocates deal with most often under the Limitation Act 1908 in Pakistan, matched to the actual articles of the First Schedule.

Civil Appeals and Revisions

• Appeal to the Court of a District Judge under the Code of Civil Procedure 1908 (Article 152), the standard first appeal from a Civil Judge’s decree: 30 days from the date of the decree or order.
• Appeal under the Code of Civil Procedure 1908 to a High Court (Article 156), covering both first appeals and second appeals to the High Court: 90 days from the date of the decree or order.
• Intra Court Appeal from a decree or order of a High Court in its original jurisdiction (Article 151): 20 days from the date of the decree or order.
• Civil revision under Section 115 CPC (Article 162-A): 90 days from the date of the order complained of.
• Application for review of judgment, not otherwise provided for (Article 173): 90 days.
• Application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court in a civil matter (Article 179): 90 days. Note this is only the leave stage, the actual appeal has its own separate timeline once leave is granted.

Applications and Execution

• Application to set aside an ex parte decree, or to set aside dismissal for default under Order IX (Articles 163 and 164): 30 days.
• Application to set aside a court sale in execution of a decree (Article 166): 30 days.
• Application for execution of a decree or order, filed in a court other than the one that passed it (Article 182): 3 years.
• Application for execution of any decree, other than a decree granting a mandatory injunction (Article 183): 6 years, the general rule for most money and possession decrees. Do not confuse this with the narrower 3 year period under Article 182, which only applies when execution is filed in a court other than the one that passed the decree.
• Residuary article, for any suit not otherwise provided for in the Schedule (Article 120): 6 years.

Suits on Contracts and Property

• Suit for specific performance of a contract (Article 113): 3 years from the date fixed for performance, or, if no date is fixed, from when the plaintiff has notice that performance is refused.
• Suit for rescission of a contract (Article 114): 3 years.
• Suit for compensation for breach of a contract that is not in writing (Article 115): 3 years. Most everyday “recovery of money” and breach of contract suits are actually filed under this article.
• Suit for compensation for breach of a written and registered contract (Article 116): 6 years, not 3. Always check whether the agreement was registered before quoting a period to the client.
• Suit upon a foreign judgment (Article 117): 6 years.
• Suit upon a judgment obtained in Pakistan, or upon a recognisance (Article 122): 12 years.

Criminal Appeals and Related Timelines

• Appeal against a death sentence (Article 150, as amended in 2023): 30 days from the date of the sentence, increased from the earlier 7 day period.
• Appeal under the Code of Criminal Procedure 1898 to any court other than the High Court (Article 154), for example a District Court or Sessions Court appeal against a conviction by a Magistrate: 30 days from the date of the sentence or order.
• Appeal under the same Code to a High Court against a conviction (Article 155): 60 days from the date of the sentence or order.
• Appeal by the State against an order of acquittal (Article 157): 6 months from the date of the order appealed from. This period is frequently and incorrectly stated as “90 days” in shared study notes, so it is worth double checking against the Act itself before relying on it.
• A private complainant seeking special leave to file an appeal against an acquittal has a separate and shorter timeline under Section 417 Cr.P.C, distinct from the State’s own 6 month window, so advocates should confirm the exact current period from the Cr.P.C provision and Supreme Court Rules rather than assuming it matches the State’s timeline.

What Is Often Mistaken for a Limitation Act Provision, But Is Not

• Filing a written statement is not governed by the Limitation Act 1908 at all. It is governed by Order VIII Rule 1 CPC, which sets a general period after service of summons, extendable by the court up to a combined maximum of 90 days for reasons recorded in writing. Treating this as a “Limitation Act period” is a common but avoidable mistake.
• Cheque dishonour proceedings in Pakistan are not governed by “Section 138 of the N.I. Act.” That provision belongs to India’s Negotiable Instruments Act 1881. In Pakistan, dishonour of a cheque is a criminal offence under Section 489-F PPC, prosecuted through an FIR or a private complaint under the Cr.P.C, and issuing a legal notice before filing is a well recognised best practice rather than a fixed Limitation Act deadline. If your audience wants the full procedure for that offence, it is worth reading alongside this article.

Step by Step: How to Actually Calculate a Limitation Period Under the Limitation Act 1908 in Pakistan

Knowing the correct article is only half the job. Here is the practical sequence advocates should follow every time a new matter comes in.

Step 1: Identify the exact proceeding and match it to its article. Do not assume a period from memory or from a shared graphic. Confirm the correct article in the First Schedule for the specific proceeding, since similarly named proceedings can carry very different periods, as shown above with Articles 115 and 116.

Step 2: Confirm the starting point of limitation. Time does not always start from the date of the judgment. For most appeals it starts from the date of the decree or order, but for some applications it starts from the date of dispossession, the date of knowledge, or the date the right to apply accrues. Getting the starting date wrong is one of the most common ways a genuinely timely filing ends up looking late on paper.

Step 3: Apply Section 12 exclusions. Section 12 of the Limitation Act allows the time spent obtaining a certified copy of the judgment, decree, or order to be excluded when computing the limitation period. This is one of the most commonly used and commonly misapplied provisions, so the certified copy application date and the collection date should always be documented and kept on file.

Step 4: Check whether Section 5 condonation is even available. Section 5 allows a court to condone delay in filing an appeal, revision, review, or application, where sufficient cause is shown, but it does not apply to suits, and it does not apply automatically. If the client is already late, this becomes the central issue in the case rather than a side note.

Step 5: File the condonation application properly if needed, with the delay explained day by day, not in a vague, general statement. Courts have consistently held that each day of delay must be accounted for, and a loosely worded explanation is treated the same as no explanation at all.

Where Delay and Malafide Intention Commonly Show Up

Limitation disputes are rarely just about counting days. In practice, the real fight is often about whether the delay, or the timing of a filing, was innocent or deliberately engineered.

• A party who suddenly discovers a “certified copy delay” that conveniently covers exactly the gap needed to save a time barred appeal, without genuine supporting record from the copying agency.
• A defendant who deliberately avoids service of summons to run out the written statement window, then claims the delay in filing was the court’s fault.
• A litigant who files a condonation application with vague, template language (“due to unavoidable circumstances”) specifically to avoid pinning down a date that would expose the delay as unjustified.
• A party who waits until the very last permissible day to file, not for a genuine reason, but purely to limit the opposing side’s time to prepare a response, especially in urgent or interim matters.
• An opposing party who challenges limitation only after losing on merits, as a last resort tactic, rather than raising it at the first available opportunity.

The Advocate’s Role at Each Stage

• At the intake stage, calculate the limitation period immediately, before doing anything else on the file. This single habit prevents most limitation disasters.
• At the drafting stage, plead the exact date the cause of action arose, and the exact date the certified copy was applied for and received, so the limitation calculation is transparent to the court from the first reading.
• At the filing stage, if the matter is already close to or past the limit, file the condonation application under Section 5 alongside the main proceeding rather than after an objection is raised, and support it with a day by day explanation and documentary proof.
• At the hearing stage, be ready to respond immediately if the opposing side raises a limitation objection, since courts often decide this issue as a preliminary matter before touching the merits at all.
• For the client, explain clearly and early that limitation is not negotiable once it expires, so decisions about whether to pursue a matter are made with full awareness of the deadline, not after it has already passed.

Practical Tips for Advocates and Law Students

• Keep a personal, verified quick reference of the articles you use most often. Do not rely on shared infographics without checking them against the bare Act text first.
• Always double check whether a special law overrides the Limitation Act 1908 for the specific proceeding you are handling, particularly in family, consumer, and labour matters.
• Diarise the deadline the same day the file is opened, not after the first draft is ready.
• When in doubt about the starting date for limitation, plead in the alternative and let the court determine the correct starting point, rather than guessing and risking dismissal.

Frequently Asked Questions

A Question for Our Readers

Have you had a case where the real battle under the Limitation Act 1908 in Pakistan turned out to be about limitation rather than the underlying facts? Share how you approached the condonation application or the limitation objection in the comments. It is exactly this kind of practical experience that helps other advocates and law students avoid the same trap in their own cases.

Disclaimer

This article is intended for legal awareness and educational purposes for advocates and law students in Pakistan. It is not a substitute for independent legal advice on any specific case.

Author: Ammar Khan, Advocate, Sindh Bar Council