Limitation exclusion for redemption proceedings before a Collector was applied, keeping the redemption suit within time.

Section 14 of the Limitation Act permits exclusion of time spent in a prior civil proceeding prosecuted with due diligence and good faith before a forum unable to entertain it for defect of jurisdiction or a similar cause. Proceedings before the Collector under the Redemption of Mortgages (Punjab) Act, 1913 were treated as civil proceedings in a court because the Collector determined civil rights relating to redemption and mortgage money. Dismissal of the application as not maintainable, without adjudication on merits, was regarded as an "other cause of like nature", so the period spent there could be excluded. The redemption suit was therefore within limitation.

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Issues: Whether the time spent in prosecuting an application before the Collector under the Redemption of Mortgages (Punjab) Act, 1913 could be excluded under Section 14 of the Limitation Act for computing limitation for the suit for redemption.

Analysis: The exclusion under Section 14 applies where a party has prosecuted another civil proceeding with due diligence and in good faith in a court which is unable to entertain it because of defect of jurisdiction or another cause of like nature. The proceedings before the Collector under the Redemption of Mortgages (Punjab) Act, 1913 were held to be civil proceedings in a court for the purpose of Section 14, since the Collector was required to determine civil rights relating to redemption and mortgage money. The dismissal of the application as not maintainable, without deciding the controversy on merits, was treated as falling within the expression "other cause of like nature" and not as a case where the applicant was denied relief for a merely misconceived claim.

Conclusion: The plaintiff was entitled to exclude the period spent before the Collector under Section 14 of the Limitation Act, and the suit was within limitation.

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