Residuary application (any application with no named article):
how long do you have?
Last reviewed: 2026-08-19 · quoted from the India Code bare-Act PDF
When the right to apply accrues.
The Schedule row, as the Act prints it
Article 137Description: Any other application for which no period of limitation is provided elsewhere in this Division.
Period: Three years.
Time from which period begins to run: When the right to apply accrues.
Open the bare Act on India Code →
In plain English
The residuary article for applications — quietly one of the most litigated entries in the Schedule. Any application (to a civil court, and per case law to certain tribunals applying the Act) with no named article gets three years from when the right to apply accrues. Courts have applied it to probate/letters-of-administration petitions (treating the right as continuing while interference persists), to arbitration-reference applications, and to IBC s.7/9 applications (three years from default). Whether Article 137 reaches a given tribunal or statute is case-law-driven — check the special law first.
Where this comes up
- Probate or letters-of-administration petition filed long after the death
- Application under a statute that prescribes no limitation of its own
- IBC s.7/9 filings, where courts apply Art. 137's three years from default
What can reset or extend this period
General rules for entries in the Applications division. The full statutory quotes (ss.5, 12, 18-19, 6-8) are on the finder page.
Condonation — with a hard carve-out
Section 5 lets a late application be admitted on sufficient cause, EXCEPT applications under Order XXI CPC (execution). A late execution application under Article 136, or a late application to set aside an execution sale under Article 127, cannot be condoned at all.
Computation exclusions
s.12(1) excludes the first day; s.12(2) excludes pronouncement day and certified-copy time for applications for leave to appeal, revision or review; s.12(4) excludes award-copy time for set-aside applications; s.4 saves filings that fall due while the court is closed; s.14-15 and s.17 exclusions can also apply.
Acknowledgment — but not for execution
s.18's fresh-period rule covers suits and applications 'in respect of any property or right', but its Explanation (c) expressly excludes applications for the execution of decrees from its benefit.
Legal disability
ss.6-8 extend time for a person under legal disability for suits and execution applications, subject to s.8's three-year post-cessation ceiling.
Frequently asked
Is a probate petition ever time-barred?
Courts apply Article 137's three years but treat the right to apply as recurring while the will needs to be acted upon — delay invites explanation and suspicion rather than an automatic bar. This mapping is case law, not Schedule text.
Does Article 137 cover applications under special statutes?
Only where the Limitation Act applies to that forum (directly or via the special law, e.g. s.29(2) or provisions like IBC s.238A). The Supreme Court has applied it to IBC insolvency applications; many tribunals are outside it entirely.
This is a reference to the statutory text, not advice on a live matter. Limitation is brutally fact-sensitive — when the cause of action accrued, whether an acknowledgment or part-payment reset the clock, and which exclusions under ss.4-15 apply all turn on your specific facts. This page is a reference to the statutory text, not advice on a live matter, and it does not create an advocate-client relationship. A single day's error can be fatal to a claim: s.5 condonation never applies to suits, and several special-statute deadlines (Arbitration s.34(3), IBC s.61(2)) are hard ceilings no court can extend. Verify every period against the bare Act as currently amended and against current case law, and take advice on your own facts before acting. Provisions here were reviewed on 19 August 2026.