Limitation Period for Appeal in India
October 18, 2026 · 8 min read
The judgment has gone against you, and the first question is always the same: how long do I have to appeal? The answer is in the Schedule to the Limitation Act, 1963, and it's shorter than most people expect. Thirty days for a lot of appeals. Ninety at most for the common ones.
Below is the full table, followed by how to count the days properly, which is where most mistakes happen.
Appeal limitation periods at a glance
| What you're filing | Article | Period | Runs from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Civil appeal to the High Court | 116(a) | 90 days | Date of the decree or order |
| Civil appeal to any other court | 116(b) | 30 days | Date of the decree or order |
| Appeal within the same High Court (LPA, intra-court) | 117 | 30 days | Date of the decree or order |
| Criminal appeal against conviction, to the High Court | 115(b)(i) | 60 days | Date of the sentence or order |
| Criminal appeal against conviction, to any other court | 115(b)(ii) | 30 days | Date of the sentence or order |
| Appeal against a death sentence | 115(a) | 30 days | Date of the sentence |
| State appeal against acquittal | 114(a) | 90 days | Date of the order |
| Review (any court except the Supreme Court) | 124 | 30 days | Date of the decree or order |
| Revision, civil or criminal | 131 | 90 days | Date of the decree, order or sentence |
| Certificate to appeal to the Supreme Court | 132 | 60 days | Date of the decree, order or sentence |
| SLP to the Supreme Court, after the High Court refused leave | 133(b) | 60 days | Date of the order refusing leave |
| SLP to the Supreme Court, other cases | 133(c) | 90 days | Date of the judgment or order |
Want the exact last day for your own case? Put the date of the decree and the copy time into the limitation period calculator. It covers these articles and the suits and applications that sit around them.
Criminal appeals and the new BNSS
Articles 114 and 115 still name the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898. Read them as the provisions that replaced it. Appeals against conviction now sit in Section 415 of the BNSS (old CrPC 374), appeals against acquittal in Section 419 (old CrPC 378), and revision in Section 438 (old CrPC 397).
One period comes from the BNSS itself. If the case started on a private complaint and ended in acquittal, the complainant first needs the High Court's special leave to appeal. Section 419(5) gives sixty days from the order of acquittal to ask for it, or six months if the complainant is a public servant.
How to count the days
Section 12 of the Limitation Act decides this, and it works in your favour in two ways.
- The day of the judgment doesn't count. A 30-day period from a decree dated 10 March ends on 9 April.
- Copy time is added back. The time the court takes to give you a certified copy of the decree or order, and of the judgment, is left out of the period.
So if you applied for a certified copy on 12 March and it was ready on 26 March, those 14 days go on top, and the last day moves from 9 April to 23 April. Your court's copying section stamps both dates on the copy, so use those.
Two catches:
- Apply for the copy inside the limitation period. Time spent on a copy you asked for after the period ran out doesn't help.
- The Explanation to Section 12 says that time the court takes to draw up the decree before you apply for a copy is not excluded. Apply early, even if the decree isn't ready.
If the last day is a holiday
Section 4 lets you file on the day the court reopens. It only applies when the court is actually closed. A Saturday isn't automatically a holiday everywhere, and vacation benches change things, so check the court's own calendar.
When a special law sets its own period
Section 29(2) of the Limitation Act says that where another law prescribes a different period, that period applies. The common ones:
- Commercial Courts Act, 2015: 60 days for an appeal from a commercial court or commercial division (Section 13(1A)).
- Consumer Protection Act, 2019: 45 days from the District Commission to the State Commission (Section 41), and 30 days from the State to the National Commission (Section 51).
- Family Courts Act, 1984: 30 days from the judgment or order (Section 19(3)).
- Hindu Marriage Act, 1955: 90 days from the date of the judgment or order (Section 28(4)).
Sections 4 to 24 of the Limitation Act, including copy time, still apply to these unless the special law shuts them out.
If you're already late
Section 5 lets the court accept an appeal filed after the period if you show sufficient cause. You file an application for condonation of delay along with the appeal, with an affidavit setting out what happened and documents to back it: a medical certificate, a letter from your previous lawyer, proof of when you learned of the judgment.
In Collector, Land Acquisition, Anantnag v. Mst. Katiji (1987) the Supreme Court told courts to take a liberal view, because refusing to condone delay can shut out a good case on a technicality. That doesn't mean any reason works. Courts still refuse when the explanation is vague or the delay looks deliberate, and the longer the delay, the more detail they want.
Section 5 covers appeals and most applications. It doesn't cover suits, which is why a missed deadline for filing a suit is usually final.
Questions people ask
Is the limitation for an appeal 30 days or 90 days?
It depends on the court you're appealing to. Under the Code of Civil Procedure, an appeal to the High Court gets 90 days (Article 116(a)) and an appeal to any other court, such as a District Court, gets 30 days (Article 116(b)). Special laws like the Commercial Courts Act and the Consumer Protection Act set their own periods.
When do the 90 days for an SLP start?
From the date of the High Court's judgment or order, under Article 133(c). The time taken to get a certified copy is excluded under Section 12, so the real deadline is usually later than 90 days from the judgment.
What if the last day is a court holiday?
Section 4 of the Limitation Act lets you file on the day the court reopens. This only applies when the court is actually closed on the last day, so check the court's own calendar rather than assuming a Saturday is a holiday.
Can a delay in filing an appeal be condoned?
Yes. Section 5 lets the court admit an appeal after the period if you show sufficient cause for not filing in time. You file an application for condonation of delay with the appeal, with an affidavit and documents explaining the gap.
This is general information, not legal advice. Check the bare Act and your court's rules before you rely on a date.
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