Time allowed under Kerala Rule 242 counts toward copy-obtaining time under Section 12(2) when there is no applicant default.

Time granted under Rule 242 of the Kerala Civil Rules of Practice for producing stamp paper forms part of the "time requisite" for obtaining a copy of the decree under Section 12(2) of the Limitation Act, 1963, provided the applicant acts within the time allowed and is not in default. The court distinguished earlier authority based on materially different rules that treated delay against the applicant, and held that the amended Rule 242, which allows three clear working days, contains no such adverse stipulation. The earlier contrary view was overruled.

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Issues: Whether the time granted under Rule 242 of the Civil Rules of Practice, Kerala for producing stamp paper is to be excluded as part of the "time requisite" for obtaining a copy of the decree under Section 12(2) of the Limitation Act, 1963.

Analysis: The expression "time requisite" in Section 12(2) covers the time properly required for obtaining the copy, but exclusion is denied where delay is attributable to the applicant's default or negligence. The earlier view that the period allowed under the Kerala Rules could not be excluded rested on rules that expressly treated delay against the applicant and on a context materially different from the present Rule 242. Rule 242, as amended to require "three clear working days", does not contain any stipulation that delay must count against the applicant. In that setting, compliance with the time granted by the Rule cannot be treated as default, and the time so allowed forms part of the period requisite for obtaining the copy.

Conclusion: The time granted under Rule 242 of the Civil Rules of Practice, Kerala is excludable under Section 12(2) of the Limitation Act, 1963. The appellant succeeds, and the earlier contrary view is overruled.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a procedural rule grants a defined time for taking a step necessary to obtain a copy, and the applicant acts within that time without default, the period so consumed is part of the "time requisite" deductible under Section 12(2) of the Limitation Act, 1963.

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