The limitation period for instituting a suit by P expired when P was still a minor. Can P file the suit when he becomes major, if so, whether immediately after he becomes major or within the prescribed period of limitation after he becomes major?

Governing provisions

Section 6 protects a person who is under legal disability, namely minority, insanity, or idiocy, at the time from which limitation is to be reckoned. Section 8 then limits that indulgence by saying that the extended time cannot go beyond three years from the cessation of disability. The commentary makes the point clear that the benefit is personal to the minor and that the suit may be filed after majority within the prescribed period, subject to the three-year ceiling under Section 8.

Answer to the question

If the limitation period expired while P was still a minor, P does not lose the right to sue merely because of minority. After attaining majority, P may file the suit, but not as a matter of unlimited time; P must file it within the period allowed by Section 6, and Section 8 caps that privilege at three years from the date of cessation of minority. So, the correct answer is: P may file after becoming major, but ordinarily within three years from the date of attaining majority, not necessarily immediately, unless the special article applicable gives a shorter period.

How computation works

The day of cessation of minority is excluded in computing limitation. Thus, if P attains majority on 1 January, the period begins on 2 January. If the ordinary article applicable to the suit allows more than three years, Section 8 cuts it down to three years; if the article allows less than three years, the shorter period controls.

Illustration 1

If P’s cause of action arose when P was 17 and the ordinary period for suit is 12 years, P may sue after becoming major, but the statute does not give P twelve fresh years; the special indulgence under Sections 6 and 8 ordinarily limits the fresh period to three years from majority for the relevant disability-based extension.

Illustration 2

If P attains majority on 10 April 2026, the period begins on 11 April 2026. If the suit is one for which the ordinary period is only one year from the relevant starting point, P cannot claim three years; the shorter statutory period governs.

Important limits

The benefit of Section 6 is available only where the disability existed when time began to run. It does not help in cases of subsequent disability, because Section 9 lays down that once time has begun to run, no later disability stops it. The commentary repeatedly stresses that Section 6 applies to initial disability, not to a situation where limitation had already started and later the plaintiff became disabled.

It is also well settled that the minor himself, or his guardian/next friend during minority, may sue; the existence of a guardian does not by itself remove the disability. The Supreme Court in Bailochan Karan v. Basant Kumari Naik explained the combined effect of Sections 6 and 8 and held that the right to sue must be exercised within three years from the cessation of disability in such cases.

Case law

In Bailochan Karan v. Basant Kumari Naik, the Supreme Court treated Section 8 as a strict outer limit on the indulgence granted by Section 6. In Jadav Prabhatbhai Jethabhai v. Parmar Karsanbhai Dhulabhai, the Gujarat High Court held that the extended period for a minor cannot exceed three years from the date of cessation of disability. In Aswini Kumar Pan v. Parimal Debi, the Calcutta High Court also recognised that a child in the womb or a minor can claim the benefit of legal disability provisions.

Conclusion

P can file the suit after attaining majority, and P need not file it on the very first day of majority. But the right is not open-ended: the suit must be filed within the period permitted by Sections 6 and 8, ordinarily within three years from the date of attaining majority, counted from the next day. That is the statutory balance between protecting the disabled claimant and preventing indefinite uncertainty in titles and claims.