(1) Subject to the provisions contained in sections 4 to 24 (inclusive) every suit instituted, appeal preferred, and application made after the prescribed period shall be dismissed although limitation has not been set up as defense;

(2) For the purposes of this Act,

(a) A suit is instituted,

(i) in an ordinary case, when the plaint is presented to the proper officer;

(ii) in the case of a pauper, when his application for leave to sue is a pauper is made; and

(ii) in the case of a claim against a company which is being wound up by the court, when the claimant first sends in his claim to the official liquidator;

(b) any claim by way of a set-off or a counter claim, shall be treated as a separate suit and shall be deemed to have been instituted-

(i) in the case of a set-off, on the same date as the suit in which the set off is pleaded;

(ii) in the case a counter claim, on the date on which the counter claim is made in court;

(c) an application by notice of motion in a High Court is made when the application is presented to the proper officer of that court