Judgment :-

Swatanter Kumar, J.

1. The Learned Single Judge of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh vide its Judgment dated 21st May, 2003 set aside the concurrent Judgment passed by the Appellate Authority, Ambala, dated 11th December, 2001 and that of the Rent Controller dated 27th September, 2000, passing an order of ejectment against the respondents in exercise of the powers conferred under Section 15 of the Haryana Urban Rent (Control of Rent and Eviction) Act, 1973 (for short `the Act'). The petition had been instituted by the landlord against the tenant on the ground of non-payment of rent. The tenant had denied the relationship of landlord and tenant and even claimed title to the said property on the basis of an agreement dated 21st November, 1953 entered into between the predecessor in interest of the petitioner. The ground taken for ejectment of the tenant in the eviction petition was non-payment of rent which was only Rs. 200/- per month. As already noticed, the judgment of the Appellate Authority was set aside by the High Court vide its judgment dated 21st May, 2003 and it is this judgment of the High Court which has been assailed by way of a Special Leave Petition before this Court. The leave to appeal was granted by the Court vide order dated 13th February, 2006.

2. During the pendency of the appeal on 28th November, 2007, the sole petitioner died. From the record, it appears that no steps were taken to bring on record the legal representatives of the deceased appellant for a considerable period of time on record. Somewhere on 15th April, 2010, I.A. No. 1 of 2010 has been filed along with I.A. No. 2 of 2010 praying for condonation of delay in filing the application for bringing the legal heirs on record. As is evident from the above narrated facts, the appellant died on 28th November, 2007 while the present applications have been filed on or about 15th April, 2010. Thus, there is delay of 778 days in filing these applications. The application for condonation of delay was seriously contested on behalf of the non-applicants. It was argued that no sufficient cause or even a reasonable cause has been shown for condoning the delay of more than two years and the appeal has already abated. The application, besides being vague at the face of it, contains untrue averments. As such, it is prayed that the application should be dismissed and consequently, the appeal would not survive for consideration.

3. Firstly, we have to deal with I.A. No. 2 of 2010, which is an application for condonation of delay in filing the application for bringing the legal representatives on record. The Learned Counsel appearing for the applicant stated that though no specific provision had been stated in the headings of any of the applications, I.A. No. 1 of 2010 should be treated as an application under Order 22 Rule 3 read with Section 151, of Code of Civil Procedure (hereinafter referred to as `CPC') while I.A. No.2 of 2010 should be treated as an application under Order 22 Rule 9 read with Section 5 of the Limitation Act, 1962.

4. At the very outset, we may notice that the delay in filing the application I.A. No. 1 of 2010 is considerable and it cannot be disputed that the onus to show that sufficient cause exists for condonation of delay lies upon the applicant.

5. It is obligatory upon the applicant to show sufficient cause due to which he was prevented from continuing to prosecute the proceedings in the suit or before the higher Court. Here there is admittedly, a delay of 778 days in filing the application for bringing the legal representative on record. To explain this delay, the applicant has filed a one page application stating that they were not aware of the pendency of the appeal before the Court and came to know, only in March, 2010 from their counsel that the case would be listed for final disposal during the vacations in May, 2010. Then the applications, as already noticed, were filed on 15th April, 2010. In order to e