JUDGMENT

S.B. Sinha, J.—

Leave granted.

1. Jurisdiction of a Land Revenue Court to set aside an ex-parte decree is in question in this appeal which arises out of a judgment and order dated 28th July,2003 passed by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh in Civil Writ Petition No. 11599 of 2003.

2. A suit for partition was filed by Kulwant Singh, the respondent No.4 herein against the appellant as also the other respondents. The said suit was decreed ex-parte against the appellant. He had been residing in Houston, Texas, in the United State of America for more than 25 years. He had never been served with any notice, although respondent No.4 had full knowledge of his correct address.

3. Assistant Collector, 1st Grade, Phagwara, while passing a judgment and order dated 26th November, 1997 observed that no notice could be served upon the appellant.

4. An application in terms of Order IX Rule 13 read with Section 151 of the Code of Civil Procedure was filed by the appellant herein alleging:-

“That the respondents-applicants were not at all served or notified in any manner whatsoever in the above partition proceedings. Neither any summons of this court nor any other process whatsoe