Sha Mulchand & Co. Ltd.(In Liquidation) vs Jawahar Mills Ltd on 9 December, 1952
7. Now, if as we think, the dismissal in default of an application for the restoration of a suit under Order 9 Rule 9 C. P. C. can be set aside by resort to Section 151, C. P. C., then there is no question of any limitation for an application made to invoke the inherent powers of the Court. Section 151 does not deal with any application, nor docs it lay down procedure for any application. It is a provision recognising the inherent power of the court to act ex debito justitiae. An application invoking this power is not one which a party is required to make under any provisions of the Code for setting in motion any machinery of the Court. Therefore it is not governed by Article 181 or any other Article of the Limitation Act. As has been held by the Supreme Court in Sha Mulchand and Co. Ltd. v. Jawahar Mills Ltd., AIR 1953 SC 98 Article 181 governs only the applications under the Code of Civil Procedure and has to be read as if the words 'under the Code' were added in the first column of the article. It follows therefore that the application contemplated by Article 181 is one which a party has to make for the machinery of the Court to be set in motion under the provisions of the Code and the application has to be made within three years from the date when the right to apply accrues.