ABDUL NASAR Vs. S. RANI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These Civil Revision Petitions arises out of the separate orders dated 21.01.2014 in I.A. Nos. 816 and 817 of 2012 in O.S. No. 141 of 2002 passed by the Sub-Court, Pudukkottai. The parties are hereinafter referred to as per their description in the suit for the sake of convenience.

(2.) The Plaintiff had instituted the suit in O.S. No. 141 of 2002 in the Sub-Court, Pudukkottai for specific performance of the agreement dated 17.11.1998 entered into between the Defendant and the Plaintiff. The Defendant had filed Written Statement in that suit. However, there was no representation for the Plaintiff on 31.01.2005, the said suit was dismissed for default. The Plaintiff had presented an application to restore the said suit to the file of the Sub-Court, Pudukkottai. The said application was returned by the Registry on 18.03.2005 and the Advocate's clerk of the Plaintiff who had collected the returned papers had not re-presented the same within the stipulated time. The returned papers were re-presented on 18.08.2008 along with the Petition to condone the delay of 1472 days in re-presenting the same, which was supported by an affidavit of Advocate's clerk of the Plaintiff stating that the returned papers had been mingled with disposed of cases and caused the delay. The papers were returned by the Registry on 25.03.2010 for the second time and were re-presented on 21.05.2012 along with the Petition to condone the delay of 681 days in re-presenting the same, supported by an affidavit of the Plaintiff stating that there was a change in address and due to the same, her Advocate could not contact her for instructions for re-presenting the returned papers. The Defendant opposed the said contention by filing Counter Affidavit.

(3.) The lower Court by separate orders dated 21.01.2014 was of the view, though the delay in re-presentation had not been satisfactorily explained, the Defendant could be awarded costs of Rs.1,000/- and Rs.500/- in I.A. Nos. 817 and 816 of 2012 respectively for condoning that delay in re-presentation, taking into account the fact that the application for restoration had been filed in time.