The Judgment of the Court was as follows:—
In this case it appears that the Plaintiff Petitioners filed an application before the Debt Settlement Board for settlement of their debts. This application was filed before the Board on the 9th April, 1938, and was pending before the Debt Settlement Board until the 26th November, 1938, when the application in question was dismissed on account of the non-appearance of the debtor. Having regard to the provisions of sec. 33 of the Bengal Agricultural Debtors Act, it is quite clear that between the 9th April, 1938, and the 26th November, 1938, no proceedings in respect of the debts due to the Plaintiff Petitioners could have been entertained in any Civil Court. In other words, the Plaintiffs were debarred during this period from instituting a suit for the recovery of their debts. In these circumstances in view of the provisions of sec. 52 of the Bengal Agricultural Debtors Act, the Petitioners will be entitled to have the above-mentioned period excluded in calculating the period of limitation for filing their suit against the Opposite Party under the ordinary procedure.
The Rule must, therefore, be made absolute and that part of the decision whereby the learned Small Cause Court Judge holds that the Plaintiffs' suit is time-barred will be set aside. On the merits the Court below decided the suit in favour of the Plaintiff Petitioners. The result, therefore, is that the Plaintiffs' suit is decreed with costs throughout, except that so far as this Court is concerned they will not be entitled to recover any hearing-fee from the Opposite Party.
P.C