ORDER

1. Leave granted.

2. The question that arises for consideration in this case is whether the High Court was justified in deciding the appeal on merits when there was no appearance on behalf of the appellant, in view of the explanation to Order 41 Rule 17(1) of the Code of Civil Procedure (CPC). The appellant herein had engaged a lawyer for conducting his appeal before the Delhi High Court. The appeal was admitted and was pending for adjudication. Later, the lawyer of the appellant was elevated as a Judge of the Delhi High Court and hence he returned the files to the appellant. The appellant later engaged another lawyer to conduct the case. However, due to the mistake by the clerk, the Vakalatnama of that advocate could not be filed and hence the name of the newly engaged lawyer did not figure in the cause list. The appeal came up for final hearing on 13.1.2012. representation was made by a lawyer on behalf of the previous lawyer stating that the case files had already been returned to the party. Consequently, there was no effective appearance on behalf of the appellant before the High Court. In fact, there was no appearance on behalf of the respondent as well. Learned Judge, h