In short. A summary suit gets no special time limit. It's three years under the Limitation Act, 1963, the same as an ordinary money suit, and Order XXXVII doesn't shorten it. What moves from file to file is the date the three years start, and that turns on what you're suing on: a cheque, a promissory note, a loan, an invoice or a written contract. A signed acknowledgment or a part payment made before expiry starts the clock again. Section 12A mediation time doesn't count. So find the earliest start date anyone could argue for, this week, and file well before three years from it.
Is this your situation?
- You've got a bounced cheque, a promissory note or a signed loan agreement sitting in a drawer, and no suit filed yet.
- Your Section 138 case has dragged on for a year or two at the magistrate's court. Nobody has filed the civil claim.
- At some point the debtor's accountant signed a balance confirmation, or a small payment came in, and now you can't tell which date counts.
- A few of the invoices you want to sue on are older than two and a half years.
- The debtor promised to pay 'after Diwali', and you'd decided to hold off till then.
- A summary suit summons has landed on your desk, and the claim in it looks old to you.
- Your Section 12A mediation closed last week without a settlement. You need to know how much time is left.
The short answer on summary suit limitation
Three years. That holds in almost every business case. Order XXXVII of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 gives you a quicker procedure, but the claim underneath is the same old claim: a debt, unpaid price for goods, a loan, money owed on a cheque or a note. For each of those the Limitation Act, 1963 allows three years. Going summary doesn't buy you extra time, and it doesn't take any away. You won't find a separate period for it in Order XXXVII or in the present Act.
So don't ask how long. Ask from when. The Schedule to the Limitation Act has separate articles for goods sold, work done, money lent, bills of exchange and promissory notes, and each one fixes its own starting point. On a single debt, a cheque suit, a demand note suit and an invoice suit can each start on a different date. Get it wrong and the suit you thought was safe gets dismissed the first time the defendant's counsel points at the calendar.
Section 3 of the Limitation Act tells the court to dismiss a suit filed after the period runs out, whether or not the defendant raises it. And you can't explain your way out. Section 5, which lets courts condone delay, doesn't apply to suits at all, unlike appeals. That one rule is why we'd spend an hour on dates before anyone drafts a single line of the plaint.
When does the clock start? The usual summary suit claims
| What you're suing on | Article in the Limitation Act Schedule | Period | Time usually runs from |
|---|---|---|---|
| A bounced cheque | Articles 32 and 35 both get argued; the Delhi High Court has counted from dishonour | 3 years | The day the cheque came back unpaid (defendants still push for the cheque date) |
| Promissory note or bill payable on demand | Article 35 | 3 years | The date on the note or bill, not the day you ask for payment |
| Promissory note payable at a fixed time after date | Article 31 | 3 years | The day the note falls due |
| Promissory note payable in instalments | Article 36 | 3 years | Each instalment counts from its own due date |
| Instalment note where one default makes the whole sum due | Article 37 | 3 years | The date of default (or a later default, if you waived the first one) |
| Money lent with no repayment date | Article 19 | 3 years | The day the loan was given |
| Money lent, payable on demand | Article 21 | 3 years | The day the loan was given, even if you never demanded it |
| Price of goods sold and delivered, no credit period | Article 14 | 3 years | Delivery date |
| Price of goods sold on a fixed credit period | Article 15 | 3 years | The day the credit period ends |
| Written contract with a fixed payment date | Article 55 or Article 113 | 3 years | The day payment fell due under the contract |
| Balance in a written account stated and signed by the debtor | Article 26 | 3 years | The day the account was stated in writing |
| Interest that falls due separately | Article 25 | 3 years | Each interest payment's own due date |
Does a bounced cheque give you a fresh three years?
Usually, yes. It's one reason creditors like suing on cheques. The Delhi High Court dealt with this in Ajanta Raj Proteins v. Himanshu Foods (2018), a summary suit on a dishonoured cheque, and said the cause of action arose when the cheque bounced. The defendant wanted time counted from the date printed on the cheque. That argument failed. On this reasoning, a cheque that came back in March 2024 can be sued on till March 2027.
We wouldn't stake the whole file on it. Defence counsel will call the cheque a demand bill of exchange, say Article 35 runs from the date on the instrument, and claim a post-dated or security cheque never created any debt. That judgment itself observed that a pure security cheque doesn't, on its own, give you a cause of action. So if three years from the cheque date haven't passed yet, file now. The point then simply doesn't arise.
Suppliers trip on a second point. Say the cheque was handed over against invoices that were already more than three years old. The defendant will call it a cheque for a time-barred debt. Your answer is Section 25(3) of the Indian Contract Act, 1872, which makes a written, signed promise to pay a time-barred debt enforceable, and a signed cheque has been treated as that kind of promise. It keeps the claim alive. But it's contested ground, and the plaint has to plead it in so many words. The drafting side is in our guide to filing a summary suit on a bounced cheque.
Promissory notes and loan papers: the date on the document decides
Demand promissory notes are where we see limitation go wrong most often. Lenders assume 'payable on demand' means three years from the day they finally ask for the money. It doesn't. Article 35 runs from the date of the note. A demand note signed on 10 January 2024 has to be sued on by 10 January 2027, unless an acknowledgment or part payment has restarted the clock in between.
Loans work much the same way. Article 19 (money lent) and Article 21 (money lent on terms that it's payable on demand) both run from the day the loan was made. Where the loan agreement fixes a repayment date or an instalment schedule, courts generally count from each due date instead, which tends to be later and kinder to you. So read the repayment clause before you assume anything. 'Repayable within 12 months' in a signed agreement gives you a later start than a bare bank transfer followed by a WhatsApp saying 'will return soon'.
Instalment notes have rules of their own. Under Article 36, every instalment gets its own three years. Article 37 covers notes where one default makes the whole balance due. There, the three years run for the whole sum from the first default, unless you waived it, say by taking late instalments without protest. If you accepted irregular payments for two years without a word, a court may decide you waived the acceleration clause. That can help you or hurt you. Suing on notes and loan papers is covered in our guide on summary suits on promissory notes and loan agreements.
Invoices and contracts: each bill runs on its own clock
A summary suit on unpaid invoices is usually framed as a suit on a written contract or a liquidated debt. And every invoice is its own claim, with its own limitation date. With a 60-day credit period, an invoice's three years start on the 61st day after that invoice. With no agreed credit period, Article 14 starts the clock on delivery. We regularly meet suppliers who've dealt with one buyer for four years and find the first year of bills is gone while the rest is fine.
Keeping a running ledger won't rescue the old bills. We hear it all the time: 'Sir, it's one account, the whole balance is due from the last entry.' Article 1 of the Schedule does give a later start date, but for a mutual, open and current account, where each side owed the other something through dealings both ways. You selling and the buyer paying isn't that. What actually keeps old entries alive is a signed balance confirmation, or a payment made on account. Both are covered below.
Long contracts paid by milestone need a separate list: each milestone, its due date, and whether it was certified. A works contract with five running bills over two years can carry five different limitation dates. Courts go by the contract terms. A certified bill may start on a different date from one that never got certified.
What stops, pauses or restarts the clock
Section 3, Limitation Act, 1963 (bar of limitation)
A suit filed after the prescribed period has to be dismissed, even if the defendant never pleads limitation. Courts check it themselves. A summary suit plaint that looks late on its face can be rejected right at the start under Order VII Rule 11 of the CPC.
Sections 4 and 12, Limitation Act, 1963 (counting days)
Section 12(1) leaves out the day from which the period runs. Under Section 4, if the last day falls when the court is closed, you can file on the next working day. Both help at the edges. Don't plan around either.
Section 14, Limitation Act, 1963 (wrong court)
If you've been pursuing a case in good faith in a court that had no jurisdiction, that time is left out when you refile in the right court. It's for civil proceedings. A criminal cheque case doesn't count.
Section 18, Limitation Act, 1963 (acknowledgment)
A written acknowledgment of liability, signed by the debtor or its authorised agent before the period runs out, starts a fresh period from the day it's signed. It needn't state the exact amount. It must admit that a debt exists.
Section 19, Limitation Act, 1963 (part payment)
A payment towards the debt, made by the debtor before the period ends, starts a fresh period from the date of payment. The Act wants that payment acknowledged in the handwriting of, or in a writing signed by, the person paying.
Section 12A(3), Commercial Courts Act, 2015 (mediation)
Time the parties spend in pre-institution mediation isn't counted for limitation. In a commercial summary suit, it's the one statutory pause most creditors can actually rely on.
Does a legal notice, a cheque bounce case or mediation stop the clock?
A legal notice doesn't. It's good evidence that you demanded payment, and under the Interest Act, 1978 it can matter for interest. For limitation it does nothing. Same with reminders, phone calls, meetings at the debtor's office and promises made over chai. The clock keeps running through all of it.
Nor does a criminal complaint under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881. Of all the mistakes we see, this one costs the most. Someone files the cheque bounce case, it moves at a crawl in the NI Act court at Saket or Rohini, and one day they learn the civil claim on that very cheque lapsed months back. Yes, the magistrate may award compensation in the end. That's a separate remedy, though, and it doesn't give you a decree. Section 14 won't save time spent in a criminal court. If you want your money through a decree, the summary suit needs its own filing date.
Section 12A mediation is different. The statute itself takes that time out. Hold on to two papers from the legal services authority: the notice fixing the first sitting, and the report saying mediation failed or never started. They're your proof of how many days to exclude. Just don't mistake this for a fresh start. If you approach the authority with a fortnight to go, you get back the mediation days and nothing more. Our page on whether Section 12A mediation is needed before a summary suit explains when you can skip it.
Settlement talks between lawyers protect nothing unless something gets signed. A debtor who keeps asking for 'one more month' might be negotiating honestly. Or watching the calendar. We've written about that pattern in our guide on a debtor who keeps promising to pay.
Which acknowledgments count, and which don't
The ones that work are written, signed, made before the three years ran out, and show the debtor accepted it owed something. Think of a balance confirmation signed by the debtor's accountant, a letter asking for time, a settlement proposal that admits the dues, or an email from the debtor's official ID saying payment is 'under process'. Courts have treated each of these as an acknowledgment in suitable cases. The exact figure doesn't have to appear.
Spoken promises don't work. Nor does a ledger copy nobody on their side signed, or a message that says 'we don't owe this, but let's talk'. WhatsApp can work, but then you're proving whose phone it was and that the sender spoke for the debtor. For any electronic record you'll need a certificate under Section 63 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023. Get it done before filing. The amended Order XI wants every document with the plaint, on day one.
When Advocate B.K. Singh checks a summary suit file for limitation, he starts from the last thing the debtor signed or sent. Not the last reminder the client sent. Only the debtor's papers move the date. Clients are often surprised that twenty follow-up emails of their own count for nothing, while one line from the debtor's accounts team asking for time can save the whole claim.
If the period has already run out, a later acknowledgment won't revive it under Section 18. A fresh written and signed promise to pay can help, though, because Section 25(3) of the Contract Act treats it as a new, enforceable contract. You then sue on that promise. It's narrower than the original claim. The exact words matter.
Checking the time limit before you file an Order 37 suit
Do the limitation check on paper, with actual dates, before anyone drafts a plaint. For a small file that's an afternoon. A ledger running over several years can take a few days.
Break the claim into pieces
Write down each cheque, note, loan tranche or invoice with its date and amount. Don't work from the total outstanding. Limitation goes claim by claim.
Fix a start date for each piece
Use the table above to find the right article and the date time runs from. Where two dates are arguable, as with cheques, note both and plan on the earlier one.
Hunt for acknowledgments and part payments
Go through emails, letters, balance confirmations and bank statements for anything the debtor signed or paid before each period ran out. Write down the date of each, and which claims it covers.
Recount, and take out mediation time
Restart the three years from the last valid acknowledgment or payment. If you've been through Section 12A mediation, add back the days from your application to the closing report. Keep both papers.
Plead it in the plaint
Order VII Rule 6 of the CPC says a plaint filed after the ordinary period must show the ground on which exemption is claimed. Name the acknowledgment or payment, give its date, and attach it.
Leave yourself a margin
Aim to file at least a few weeks before the last date. E-filing usually works outside court hours. But a registry objection, a portal that's down for a day and an affidavit nobody got attested can eat up several days between them.
Advocate B.K. Singh's working rule is simple. Treat the earliest arguable start date as the real one, and file at least a month inside it. If the defendant's limitation point needs a full hearing to answer, the summary suit has already lost the speed you chose it for.
Papers that show your summary suit is in time
- For a cheque suit: the cheque itself, the bank's return memo and the date of dishonour.
- The original promissory note or loan agreement, plus any repayment schedule.
- Bank statements showing the day each loan tranche went out.
- Invoices with delivery challans or proof of service, and the credit period if it's written in the purchase order or contract.
- Signed balance confirmations, or letters and emails where the debtor admits the dues or asks for time.
- Bank entries for every part payment. Better still if the debtor's covering email or letter is with them.
- Your Section 12A mediation application, the notice of the first date, and the failure or non-starter report.
- A certificate under Section 63 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 for the emails and WhatsApp messages you're relying on.
- A one-page limitation chart for the court file: each claim, its start date, the article, the last acknowledgment and the last date to file.
The shorter deadlines inside Order XXXVII
Three years is only the first deadline. Once the summary suit is on file, Order XXXVII runs its own tight clock, mostly against the defendant. After the summons is served, the defendant has 10 days to enter appearance. You then serve a summons for judgment, backed by an affidavit, and the defendant gets 10 days from service of that to apply for leave to defend. If no leave application comes in, you're entitled to a decree.
Order XXXVII Rule 3(7) does let the court excuse delay in appearing or in applying for leave, for sufficient cause. In commercial matters, courts use it sparingly. Still, a defendant who's a few days late isn't always out. As plaintiff, don't treat a late appearance as a win. Press for the decree quickly and oppose condonation on the record.
More deadlines come later. A defendant who wants a summary decree set aside under Order XXXVII Rule 4 has to show 'special circumstances', and can't sit on it. Either side appealing under Section 13 of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015 gets 60 days. Execution has a long window: Article 136 of the Limitation Act allows 12 years from the decree. Frankly, what you do in year one matters far more than year eleven.
Time and costs, from the limitation check to the decree
| Stage | How long it usually takes | Costs to plan for (lawyer fees not included) |
|---|---|---|
| Checking limitation and collecting documents | A few days to two weeks | Certified copies, bank charges for old statements |
| Legal notice and the reply period | 15 to 30 days, whatever the notice gives | Drafting, plus speed post or courier |
| Section 12A pre-institution mediation | Up to 3 months, extendable by 2 months with consent; excluded from limitation | Mediation fee under the 2018 Rules, scaled to claim value; check the current schedule |
| Filing the summary suit | One to two weeks for drafting, affidavits and e-filing | Ad valorem court fee on the claim under the state's court fee law; check the current schedule |
| Appearance and summons for judgment | 10 days to appear, then service of the summons for judgment | Process fee and service costs |
| Leave to defend decided | Often a few months; longer in crowded courts | Hearing costs; a deposit if leave is conditional |
| Decree, if leave is refused or conditions aren't met | Often within months of the leave order | Certified copy of the decree |
| Appeal window | 60 days under Section 13, Commercial Courts Act | Court fee on appeal |
| Execution | Up to 12 years to file; aim for the first few months | Execution court fee and attachment costs |
Where to file, and how the wrong court eats your time
You need a court with jurisdiction on two counts: the value of the claim and the place. In Delhi, commercial claims up to Rs 2 crore are heard by the District Judge (Commercial Court) at the district complex that covers the area, be it Tis Hazari, Saket, Karkardooma, Rohini, Dwarka or Patiala House. Above that figure, the Commercial Division of the Delhi High Court takes it. A higher district limit has been under discussion for some time, so confirm what it is on the day you file. Across the border in Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurugram and Faridabad, you file in the court notified as the district's Commercial Court. Below Rs 3 lakh, the specified value, it's the ordinary civil court. Our guide on whether to file a summary suit in the district court or the High Court works through the value rules.
Territory follows Section 20 of the CPC. That means where the defendant carries on business, or where the cause of action arose wholly or in part: where the contract was made, where payment was due, where the cheque was presented. Choose a court that plainly has jurisdiction. Convenience isn't enough.
This is where a wrong choice hurts on limitation. If the plaint comes back for want of jurisdiction, Section 14 excludes the time spent, but only if you acted in good faith and with due diligence. Picking a convenient but doubtful court on purpose is hard to call good faith. And while you're arguing about jurisdiction, the claims that were near the edge keep ticking.
How the three years play out for different creditors
- Suppliers of goods. Each invoice runs from delivery, or from the end of the agreed credit period. If you collect one document every year, make it a signed balance confirmation from each large buyer at year end. Nothing else does as much for limitation.
- Service firms and IT vendors. When payment hangs on milestones or acceptance, the contract wording decides the start date. Hold on to sign-off emails. The acceptance date may well be the date payment fell due.
- Business lenders. Demand loans and demand notes run from the date of the loan or note, not from the day you ask. Lenders who wait for a 'good time' to demand repayment often lose the first year without noticing.
- MSME suppliers. A registered micro or small supplier can also go to the MSME Facilitation Council under Section 18 of the MSMED Act, 2006. But the Supreme Court has held that the Limitation Act applies when the council arbitrates, so the council won't reliably get you round an expired claim.
- Large companies. Their accounts teams often send balance confirmations through a vendor portal or an auto-generated email. Check who signed or sent it and whether it really admits anything. A system statement with a disclaimer at the bottom may not be enough.
- Creditors in Delhi, UP and Haryana. The Limitation Act is a central law. Three years in Saket is three years in Surajpur and in Gurugram. What changes is the court fee, how fast the court moves, and where you can file.
A made-up example: three cheques, one note and a calendar that's running out
Nobody here is real; we made this up to show how the counting goes. A Bawana unit that moulds plastic crates sells them to a Sonipat distributor, and by mid-2026 about Rs 38 lakh is unpaid. The papers are all over the place. Invoices from 2022 and 2023. A demand promissory note for Rs 15 lakh, signed 5 August 2023. Three cheques of Rs 8 lakh apiece, dated December 2024 to January 2025, all dishonoured in February 2025. And on 31 March 2024, the distributor's accountant signed a balance confirmation.
Put the dates on one sheet and it's obvious where the danger is. The note counts from its own date, so its last day is 5 August 2026. Urgent. For the cheques, February 2025 dishonour means February 2028 on the Delhi High Court approach, and roughly December 2027 if some court preferred the earliest cheque date instead. The 2022 bills, left alone, would have lapsed in 2025. They didn't, because the confirmation of March 2024 covered everything outstanding that day and gave them a new three years, up to March 2027. The 2023 bills are covered by it too.
The unit had been leaning on its Section 138 complaint over the cheques and meant to 'wait and see'. On the chart, waiting would have killed the promissory note claim first. The sensible course was to apply for Section 12A mediation at once, note the dates of that process for exclusion, and file one summary suit covering the note, the cheques and the confirmed balance, with the chart annexed and each claim's start date pleaded.
Mistakes that leave a summary suit time-barred
- Counting from the legal notice. The notice date has no bearing on limitation. Count from the due date, the loan date, the note date or the dishonour.
- Waiting for the criminal case to finish. A Section 138 complaint doesn't pause the civil clock. And whatever it ends in, it isn't a decree for your debt.
- Reading a demand note as 'payable whenever I ask'. Article 35 runs from the note's own date.
- Relying on a ledger the debtor never signed. Your own ledger, with no signature from their side, isn't an acknowledgment.
- Suing on one big total. The oldest invoices hidden inside it may be time-barred. The court will strike them out, and it may start doubting the rest.
- Filing in a doubtful court to save a trip. If the plaint is returned, Section 14 protects only good-faith mistakes.
- Leaving mediation to the last fortnight. The exclusion covers only the mediation period. Start late and there's almost no time left for drafting afterwards.
What if the three years have already gone?
We'll be straight with you. On that claim the summary route is usually shut, and no judge has the power to give you more time. But go through the file once more before you accept it. Look for anything the debtor signed or paid that you overlooked, like a mail from their finance people, a settlement letter, or a reply to your notice that fights over the figure yet concedes part of it. Look for a later promise to pay in writing, with a signature; Section 25(3) of the Contract Act lets you enforce that. And look at what the claim really is. A guarantee invoked only recently, for instance, has its own later start date.
Insolvency won't get you round it. In B.K. Educational Services v. Parag Gupta and Associates (2018), the Supreme Court held that the Limitation Act applies to applications under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, so a time-barred debt can't support an insolvency petition either. The Covid-era exclusions the Supreme Court ordered for 2020 to 2022 ran their course long ago. They won't help a claim filed in 2026.
Where some claims are dead and some aren't, sue on the live ones and drop the rest. Time-barred items in the plaint damage your credibility at the leave to defend stage, and that's exactly where a summary suit is won or lost. If you started with a regular suit and want to know whether the summary procedure is still open to you, read our note on converting a regular recovery suit into a summary suit.
What to do this week
Take out every cheque, note, loan paper and invoice you plan to rely on, and write its start date next to it. Then go through your inbox and the debtor's letters for the last signed admission or payment. Any claim within six months of expiry is urgent. Apply for Section 12A mediation or, if you genuinely need urgent interim relief, get ready to file directly.
For claims outside Order XXXVII, see our wider guide on the time limit to recover unpaid dues. Once you know you're in time, our summary suit page explains the full procedure. And if the dates in your file are a mix and you'd like the safest route picked claim by claim, our Order 37 summary suit service starts with exactly that check.
If you'd like your cheques, notes and confirmations checked against the limitation dates before you file, send them to Advocate B.K. Singh's team through the contact page. You can also ask us for updates on the law as it applies to your claim.
Frequently asked questions
Is the limitation period for a summary suit shorter than for a normal suit?
No. The Limitation Act, 1963 has no separate period for Order XXXVII suits. The period follows the nature of the claim, and for cheques, notes, loans and invoices that's three years. Only the start date changes.
Can I file a summary suit on a cheque that bounced two years ago?
Generally, yes, as long as you file within three years. The Delhi High Court has counted from the date of dishonour, though defendants sometimes argue for the cheque date. File well inside both and the argument goes away.
Does sending a legal notice extend the time to file a summary suit?
No. A legal notice proves you demanded payment and can matter for interest. It doesn't stop or restart limitation. Only a signed acknowledgment, a part payment or Section 12A mediation touches the clock.
Does a WhatsApp message from the debtor admitting the debt restart limitation?
It can. It must have been sent before expiry, admit the liability, and be provable as coming from the debtor or its authorised person. Keep the phone safe and file a certificate under Section 63 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam. A signed letter, or an email from an official ID, is safer.
Can the court condone delay in filing a summary suit?
No. Section 5 of the Limitation Act allows condonation for appeals and applications. Not for suits. A late suit has to be dismissed, though Section 14 can exclude time spent in the wrong court in good faith.
What happens if the defendant applies for leave to defend after 10 days?
You can ask for a decree. But Order XXXVII Rule 3(7) lets the court excuse delay for sufficient cause, and courts do that sparingly. Oppose condonation on the record and press for judgment.
Is time spent in Lok Adalat or private settlement talks excluded?
Private talks aren't excluded at all. The clear statutory exclusion is Section 12A pre-institution mediation under the Commercial Courts Act. If you're unsure about any other forum, don't lean on it. File within the original period.
How long do I have to execute a summary suit decree?
Article 136 of the Limitation Act gives 12 years from when the decree becomes enforceable. In practice, start within weeks. Assets move, and what you know about them goes stale long before twelve years are up.
Advocate B.K. Singh
Founder of B.K. Singh & Associates. MCA, LL.B., LL.M. More than twenty years in practice before the Supreme Court, the Delhi High Court, district and commercial courts in Delhi NCR, and tribunals.
This guide explains the law in general terms and is not legal advice. For advice on your own papers, contact the team.