Limitation Period

Limitation Act, 1963 — Article 137; RDDB Act, 1993 — Section 24

The time period within which a legal action must be commenced. Under the Limitation Act, 1963, civil suits for money recovery must be filed within 3 years of the cause of action. DRT Original Applications under the RDDB Act must be filed within 3 years of the debt becoming due. SARFAESI enforcement has no separate limitation — it follows the bank's own NPA classification process.

In practice, limitation is the first thing seasoned recovery counsel check, because a debt that is alive in the ledger may be dead in law. Under the Limitation Act, 1963, a money-recovery suit must generally be brought within three years of the cause of action (Article 137), and a DRT Original Application under Section 24 of the RDDB Act, 1993 follows a comparable three-year window from when the debt fell due. A time-barred claim can be dismissed regardless of merits, so creditors mind the clock and use tools that reset it — a fresh acknowledgement of debt or balance confirmation in writing, signed by the debtor, can extend the period. A useful distinction: SARFAESI enforcement is not governed by the same suit-limitation, since it flows from the bank's own NPA classification rather than a court filing. Creditors verify the claim is within limitation, and pin down any acknowledgement relied upon, before filing.