Accrued right to execute a decree survived repeal, so limitation was tested under the earlier statute and upheld.

An accrued right to execute a decree within the limitation period under the repealed Indian Limitation Act, 1908 survived the Limitation Act, 1963 because repeal does not retrospectively extinguish vested rights absent clear contrary intent. Applying Section 6 of the General Clauses Act, 1897, the Court held that the execution petition had to be tested under the 1908 Act, not the 1963 Act. On that basis, the petition was within time, and the injunction period was also excludable under the old Act. The limitation objection therefore failed.

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Issues: Whether the execution petition, filed after the Limitation Act, 1963 came into force, was governed by the repealed Indian Limitation Act, 1908 or by the Limitation Act, 1963, and consequently whether it was within limitation.

Analysis: The decree had been part-satisfied by payments made before the repeal of the old Act, and under Article 183 of the First Schedule to the Indian Limitation Act, 1908 the period for execution of a chartered High Court decree ran from the date of the last payment. The Court held that this was not a mere procedural expectation but an accrued right to execute within the extended period created by the proviso to Article 183. By applying Section 6 of the General Clauses Act, 1897, the Court concluded that the repeal by Section 32 of the Limitation Act, 1963 did not destroy that accrued right, since the new Act did not manifest an intention to do so. The special saving provisions in Sections 30 and 31 of the Limitation Act, 1963 did not displace that result. Accordingly, the execution petition had to be tested under the old Act, and on that basis it was filed in time, especially after excluding the injunction period under Section 15 of the old Act.

Conclusion: The execution petition was governed by the Indian Limitation Act, 1908 and was within time; the objection of limitation failed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a right to execute a decree within a particular limitation period has accrued before repeal of the governing statute, the repealing Act will not retrospectively extinguish that right unless it clearly manifests a contrary intention.

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