Limitation and court closure: next-day presentation of an election petition can be treated as timely under section 10.

Where an election petition had to be presented in open court within a prescribed limitation period, the prescribed mode excluded delivery to the Bench Clerk or Registrar. The text explains that if the court was effectively closed on the last day for filing, the law does not require an impossible act. Section 10 of the General Clauses Act therefore applies to computation of time for acts required to be done in court, and presentation on the next working day is treated as timely. On that reasoning, dismissal of the petition as time-barred was unsustainable, and the matter was to proceed on merits.

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Issues: Whether an election petition presented on the next day after the last day of limitation, when the court was closed for the remainder of the last day, was saved by section 10 of the General Clauses Act.

Analysis: The prescribed mode for presenting an election petition under the High Court Rules required presentation in open court before the designated election Judge or, in his temporary absence, before the Bench hearing civil applications and motions. Presentation to the Bench Clerk or Registrar was not a recognised mode. However, where the court was effectively closed after 3.15 p.m. on the last day of limitation and the petition could not be formally presented in the prescribed manner on that day, the law did not require the impossible. Section 10 of the General Clauses Act applied to computation of time because the act was required to be done in court within a prescribed period and the court was closed on the last day.

Conclusion: The presentation of the election petition on the next day was within time, and dismissal of the election petition as barred by limitation was unsustainable.

Final Conclusion: The appeal was allowed, the order dismissing the election petition was set aside, and the election petition was directed to proceed to trial on merits.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a court is closed on the last day for doing an act required to be done in court within a prescribed period, section 10 of the General Clauses Act treats performance on the next working day as timely.

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