Limitation for price suits runs from delivery, and cheque-based acknowledgment counts from the date the cheque is drawn.

A suit for recovery of the price of goods sold and delivered is governed by Article 14 of the Limitation Act, with time running from delivery unless limitation is extended by a valid acknowledgment or payment. A cheque issued towards an admitted liability may operate as an acknowledgment, and limitation effect is taken from the date the cheque is drawn, not from the date it is later presented or dishonoured. Treating dishonour as the operative date would wrongly postpone the statutory effect of acknowledgment beyond when it was made. On that basis, the suits were time-barred.

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Issues: Whether suits for recovery of the price of goods, filed beyond three years from delivery, could be saved from limitation on the basis of cheques issued in part payment and whether the relevant date for extending limitation was the date of the cheque or the date of its dishonour.

Analysis: The limitation for a suit for price of goods sold and delivered is governed by Article 14 of the Schedule to the Limitation Act, 1963 and runs from the date of delivery, unless extended by a valid acknowledgment or payment. A cheque issued towards an admitted liability is an acknowledgment and, where honoured, may also amount to part payment; however, for limitation purposes the acknowledgment is complete when the cheque is drawn, not when it is later presented or dishonoured. Allowing the date of dishonour to control would defer the statutory effect of acknowledgment beyond the date on which it was actually made, which is inconsistent with Sections 18 and 19 of the Limitation Act, 1963. The cheques in question were therefore only capable of extending limitation, if at all, from their respective dates and not from the dates of dishonour.

Conclusion: The suits remained barred by time and the dismissal of the claims was in law.

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