Limitation Period Lookup: How Long You Have to File a Case or Appeal in Bangladesh

In this guide: How the clock starts · What extends or pauses the period · Special laws that override the Schedule · Execution: the twelve-year wall

The short answer

The Limitation Act 1908 fixes a period for every kind of suit, appeal and application in its First Schedule, and section 3 obliges the court to dismiss anything filed after the period even if the defendant does not object. The common periods are three years for money, goods and contract claims, six years for a declaration, twelve years to recover possession of land, 30 days to appeal to the District Judge or to restore a dismissed suit, and 90 days to appeal to the High Court Division. Several special laws set their own shorter limits, including the cheque dishonour case, Labour Court grievances, consumer complaints and pre-emption. The clock usually starts from the breach, the denial or the order, and the time spent obtaining a certified copy, a period of legal disability or a written acknowledgment of a debt can extend it.

How the clock starts

The third column of the Schedule names the starting point for each article: the date of the loan, the breach, the dispossession, the first denial of title, the decree. Get that date right before anything else. For a loan without a fixed repayment date the period runs from the date of the loan, not from the last demand; for a declaration it runs from the first clear denial, such as the defendant’s deed or mutation. If the starting event is unclear, plead the latest defensible date and the facts supporting it.

What extends or pauses the period

• Certified copy (s.12): the time needed to obtain the copy of the decree or order is excluded for appeals and applications, provided you applied for it.
• Acknowledgment (s.19) and part payment (s.20): a signed written acknowledgment of a debt, or a part payment recorded in writing, restarts the three years for money claims. Keep every such letter and receipt.
• Legal disability (ss.6–8): a minor or a person of unsound mind gets the period after the disability ends.
• Wrong court in good faith (s.14): time spent prosecuting the case in a court without jurisdiction is excluded.
• Sufficient cause (s.5): appeals and most applications, but not suits, can be admitted late on sufficient cause shown; courts are strict with explanations.

Special laws that override the Schedule

The cheque dishonour case under section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act has its own 30-day notice and one-month filing windows; Labour Court grievances run on the 30-day steps in section 33 of the Labour Act; a consumer complaint to the DNCRP must be made within 30 days; pre-emption under section 96 of the SAT Act is two months from the notice; a namjari review is 30 days from the order. Where a special law fixes a period, that period applies, and section 5 may not be available unless the special law says so.

Execution: the twelve-year wall

A decree can be executed by successive applications, each within three years of the decree or of the last order on a previous application (art.182), but section 48 of the CPC bars any fresh execution application more than twelve years after the decree except where the judgment-debtor prevented execution by fraud or force. Diary both dates when a decree is passed in your favour.