SC to withdraw extension of limitation period for cases from October 1

A buffer period of 90 days will be given with effect from October 1, the court said. “I think we can lift the order,” Chief Justice of India N V Ramana told Attorney General K K Venugopal, who agreed with the three-judge bench’s recommendation, according to Live Law.

Appearing for the Election Commission of India, senior advocate Vikas Singh said only 45 days should be given for election petitions after the extension is lifted, as that is the period laid down in the Representation of Peoples Act. Previously, as per a March 8 order, a period of 90 days was given for filings, Singh said.

On April 27, amid the unprecedented surge in Covid-19 cases, the SC extended the period of limitation for filing appeals from courts or tribunals by litigants until further orders. The court observed that the surge had put litigants in a “difficult situation”, and extended all periods of limitation ending on March 14, 2021 until further orders.

Prior to that, in the same month of March, the top court had halted the limitation period which had first been granted in March 2020 due to the first wave. At the time, the court noted that the country was “returning to normalcy”. Soon after that, cases and deaths began increasing at a rapid rate across the country, leading to a second extension.