Limitation exclusion under Section 12(2) does not extend to reference applications under the U.P. Sales Tax Act.

Section 12(2) of the Indian Limitation Act, 1908 applies only to appeals, applications for leave to appeal and applications for review, so an application for reference under section 11(1) of the U.P. Sales Tax Act does not qualify for exclusion of time spent obtaining a copy of the revisional order. Section 29 does not enlarge that express scope in special-law limitation provisions. The result is that the time requisite for obtaining the copy cannot be deducted while computing the prescribed sixty-day period for a reference application under the Sales Tax Act.

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Issues: Whether, for an application under section 11(1) of the U.P. Sales Tax Act seeking a reference to the High Court, the assessee can exclude the time requisite for obtaining a copy of the revisional order under section 12(2) of the Indian Limitation Act, 1908 while computing the prescribed period of sixty days.

Analysis: The period for making the reference application was prescribed by the special statute itself. Section 29 of the Indian Limitation Act, 1908 made the relevant provisions of the Limitation Act applicable to special laws, but only to the extent that those provisions were themselves capable of application. Section 12(1) applied to the exclusion of the day from which limitation was to be reckoned, but section 12(2) was confined to appeals, applications for leave to appeal, and applications for review of judgment. An application for reference under section 11(1) of the U.P. Sales Tax Act did not fall within those categories. The broader construction urged on behalf of the assessee was rejected as it would enlarge the plain scope of section 12(2) beyond its language and produce incongruous results in other special-law limitation contexts.

Conclusion: The assessee was not entitled to exclude the time taken to obtain the copy of the revisional order under section 12(2) of the Indian Limitation Act, 1908 for computing limitation under section 11(1) of the U.P. Sales Tax Act. The question was answered in the negative.

Ratio Decidendi: Section 12(2) of the Indian Limitation Act, 1908 applies only to the proceedings expressly specified in that provision, and section 29 does not enlarge its scope to a reference application under a special sales tax statute.

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