Limitation period extended when court is closed, so a next-day substitution application was held in time and no abatement occurred.

Where the last day for filing a substitution application falls on a day when the Court is closed, Section 4 of the Limitation Act extends the prescribed period to the next day the Court reopens. The Calcutta HC held that an application to substitute the legal representatives of a deceased respondent, filed on the first court day after expiry of limitation, was within time under Order 22 Rule 4(1) CPC. As the application was treated as timely, no abatement arose under Order 22 Rule 4(3), and the earlier contrary view that Section 4 could not avert abatement was not accepted.

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Issues: Whether an application for substitution of the legal representatives of a deceased respondent, made on the first day the Court sat after the expiry of limitation on a day when the Court was closed, was within time so as to prevent abatement of the appeal.

Analysis: The relevant limitation period for substitution had expired on a Saturday when the Court was not sitting. The Court held that Section 4 of the Limitation Act applied to such a case and that the period prescribed by the Limitation Act must be read with Section 4 as the time limited by law. On that view, an application made on the next day the Court was open was a valid application within time under Order 22 Rule 4(1) of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, and no abatement under Order 22 Rule 4(3) arose. The earlier view that Section 4 did not prevent the practical consequence of abatement was not accepted.

Conclusion: The application for substitution made on the next court day was within time, the appeal had not abated, and the application was allowed.

Final Conclusion: A limitation period expiring while the Court is closed is enlarged by Section 4 of the Limitation Act for the purpose of making the application, so a substitution application filed on the next sitting day is in time and abatement does not occur.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the last day for an application falls on a day when the Court is closed, the prescribed limitation period is to be treated as extended to the next day the Court reopens, and the application is therefore within the time limited by law.

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