Limitation Period Calculator
The last day to file, with every exclusion and fresh period explained step by step.
How the date is worked out
The steps appear here once you enter the start date.
Checks and notes
An estimate, not legal advice: the right article and the date the cause of action arose are legal questions — have a lawyer confirm them before you rely on this date.
For general information only, not legal advice. Templates are generic starting points — have a qualified lawyer review anything you rely on.
About the Limitation Period Calculator
A suit, appeal or application filed after the period of limitation is dismissed — even if the other side never raises it (Limitation Act, 1963, s.3). Working out the last day is not just “date + 3 years”: the first day is not counted, a written acknowledgment can start a fresh period, time spent getting a certified copy or in the wrong court is excluded, a closed court moves the deadline, and the Supreme Court excluded 15 March 2020 to 28 February 2022 altogether.
Pick the kind of case — all 137 articles of the Schedule are included with their exact words, plus common special-law periods (consumer complaints and appeals, cheque bounce, arbitral awards, RTI appeals, commercial appeals, s.6 Specific Relief Act) — enter the start date and any facts that change it, and the calculator shows the last day to file with each step, the rule behind it and a calendar file with reminders. Everything runs in your browser.
How to use it
- Choose the kind of suit, appeal or application: search by words (“money lent”, “possession”, “appeal High Court”), by article number (“Art 113”), or pick a common case. The Act’s own words — the period and the time from which it runs — are shown so you can check it is the right article.
- Enter the start date the article asks for — for example the date of the loan, the decree or the dishonour. The calculator does not count that day.
- Add what applies: dates of a written acknowledgment or part-payment, the time taken to get a certified copy, an earlier case in a court without jurisdiction, a statutory notice, pre-institution mediation, or the date a minor came of age.
- Set the court’s closed days — Sundays, all or second and fourth Saturdays, and any vacation or holidays you paste in — so a deadline that falls on a closed day moves to the day the court reopens.
- Read the last day and the steps. Optionally enter the date it was (or will be) filed to check whether it is in time. Copy the summary, print it, or add the deadline to your calendar (.ics) with reminders 30, 7 and 1 day before.
Examples
Money lent on 10 Nov 2023 · borrower signed a letter admitting the debt on 2 Jun 2025
Ordinary last day 10 Nov 2026; the acknowledgment before expiry starts a fresh 3 years → last day Friday, 2 June 2028.
Decree on 1 Jun 2026 · certified copy applied for on 5 Jun, ready on 20 Jun 2026
90 days → 30 Aug 2026, plus 16 days excluded for the copy → Tuesday, 15 September 2026.
Award received on 15 Jul 2026
Three months → Thursday, 15 October 2026; a further 30 days only on sufficient cause, ending 14 November 2026 — nothing can be admitted after that.
Money lent on 10 Jan 2019 (Article 19)
Would have ended on 10 Jan 2022; 716 days from 15 Mar 2020 to 28 Feb 2022 are excluded → Wednesday, 27 December 2023.
Common uses
- Checking whether a claim for unpaid money, a cheque or a loan can still be filed — and by when.
- Diarising the last day for an appeal, revision, review or execution application, with reminders.
- Seeing whether an acknowledgment, a part-payment or the COVID-19 exclusion saves a claim that looks time-barred.
- Preparing the limitation paragraph of a plaint, appeal or condonation application.
How the last day is worked out
- Start: the day from which the period runs is excluded (s.12(1)). Years and months are calendar years and months (General Clauses Act s.3(35)); one month from 31 January ends on the last day of February.
- Period: the period in column 2 of the Schedule, or in the special law, is added. Some periods start late: the 30 days a PIO has to reply run before an RTI appeal period, for example.
- Disability: if the person entitled was a minor, insane or an idiot when time began, the same period runs from the end of the disability, but never more than three years after it ends (ss.6, 8).
- Fresh period: each written, signed acknowledgment of liability, and each part-payment acknowledged in writing, made before the period expires starts the period again from its date (ss.18, 19).
- Excluded time is added, counting overlapping days once: last day = (start + period) + excluded days.
- COVID-19: if the period was running on 15 March 2020 or started before 28 February 2022, that window is excluded; if it would have expired in it, there are at least 90 days from 1 March 2022.
- Closed court: if the last day is a day the court is closed, the case can be filed on the day it reopens (s.4).
Time that is excluded
- Certified copy (appeals, revisions, reviews, and applications to set aside an award): the time requisite for obtaining a copy of the decree, order, judgment or award (s.12(2)–(4)). Time the court took to prepare the decree before you applied for the copy is not excluded (Explanation to s.12).
- Wrong court (suits and civil applications — not a cheque-bounce complaint, which is criminal): the time spent prosecuting, with due diligence and in good faith, another civil proceeding on the same matter in a court that could not entertain it — the first and last days both count (s.14).
- Statutory notice (suits): the period of notice the law requires before suing, such as two months under CPC s.80 against the Government (s.15(2)).
- Pre-institution mediation (commercial disputes): the period during which the parties remained occupied with pre-institution mediation is not counted (Commercial Courts Act s.12A(3), second proviso).
The Supreme Court’s COVID-19 exclusion
In In Re: Cognizance for Extension of Limitation (MA 21/2022 in SMWP(C) 3/2020, order) the Supreme Court directed that 15 March 2020 to 28 February 2022 stands excluded for limitation under any general or special law in all judicial and quasi-judicial proceedings; the balance of the period became available from 1 March 2022; and where limitation would have expired in that window, everyone has 90 days from 1 March 2022 (to 30 May 2022), or the longer balance. The exclusion also covers outer limits within which delay can be condoned. The calculator applies it by default; untick it for anything that is not a court or tribunal proceeding.
Late? What the law allows
- Suits: no extension. A late suit is dismissed (s.3); section 5 does not apply to suits.
- Appeals and applications: may be admitted late if you show sufficient cause (s.5) — but not applications in execution under Order XXI CPC (Articles 125, 127, 128, 129, 134, 135, 136).
- Special laws have their own rules: a consumer complaint can be admitted late on sufficient cause, with the Commission’s reasons recorded (CPA 2019 s.69(2)); an arbitral award can be challenged at most 30 days after the three months, and never after that (s.34(3)); a cheque-bounce complaint can be taken up late on sufficient cause (NI Act s.142(1)(b)).
Sources
- Limitation Act, 1963 — ss.3–6, 8, 12, 14, 15, 18, 19 and the Schedule (Articles 1–137)
- General Clauses Act, 1897 — ss.3(35), 9, 10
- Supreme Court order, MA 21/2022 in SMWP(C) 3/2020
- Consumer Protection Act, 2019 — ss.41, 51, 67, 69
- Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 — s.142
- Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 — s.34(3)
- Right to Information Act, 2005 — ss.5(2), 7, 19
- Specific Relief Act, 1963 — s.6
- Commercial Courts Act, 2015 — ss.12A, 13
Limitations
- An estimate, not legal advice. Choosing the right article, and deciding when the cause of action arose, are legal questions — have a lawyer confirm them.
- It does not know your court’s holidays and vacations: add them, or the date may fall on a closed day.
- Criminal articles (114, 115, 131) still name the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898; check how your court applies them under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023. Limitation for taking cognizance of offences is not covered.
- Rules not modelled: s.7 (one of several persons under disability), s.13 (pauper applications), s.16 (death), s.17 (fraud or mistake), s.22 (continuing wrongs), and periods in laws other than those listed.
- For periods that touched the COVID-19 window, the outer limit after a condonable period is shown 30 days after the extended last day; confirm such borderline dates.
Privacy
Everything happens in your browser. What you enter or open here is not uploaded or stored by MySmartCoPilot.
Frequently asked questions
What is the limitation period to recover money in India?
Usually three years. For money lent it runs from the date of the loan (Article 19); for goods sold on no fixed credit, from delivery (Article 14); with a fixed credit period, from when the credit period ends (Article 15); for work done, from when the work is done (Article 18). Where no article fits, Article 113 gives three years from when the right to sue accrues.
Does a written acknowledgment or a part-payment restart limitation?
Yes, if it is made before the period expires. An acknowledgment of liability must be in writing and signed by the person liable (s.18); a part-payment must be acknowledged in the payer’s handwriting or in a writing signed by them (s.19). A fresh period runs from its date. After expiry it cannot revive the claim, though a signed written promise to pay a time-barred debt can be a new contract (Indian Contract Act s.25(3)).
Is the day of the event counted?
No. The day from which the period is reckoned is excluded (s.12(1)). Three years from 10 November 2023 ends on 10 November 2026, and 30 days from 4 September ends on 4 October.
What if the last day is a Sunday or a court holiday?
If the prescribed period expires on a day the court is closed, you can file on the day it reopens (s.4). This applies only to the prescribed period itself — not, for example, to the extra 30 days a court can allow under s.34(3) of the Arbitration Act.
Can a delay in filing be condoned?
For appeals and most applications, yes, if you show sufficient cause (s.5) — file an application for condonation of delay with an affidavit explaining each day of delay. Section 5 does not apply to suits or to applications in execution under Order XXI CPC.
Does the COVID-19 extension still matter?
Only where a period was running on 15 March 2020, or started between then and 28 February 2022. That window is excluded, and if limitation would have expired inside it you had at least until 30 May 2022 (90 days from 1 March 2022). Periods that started on or after 1 March 2022 are not affected.