JUDGMENT :

1. In the present case, respondent No. 20 had expired prior to the institution of the civil suit in the year 2003 whereas the civil suit was filed on 16.12.2011. Respondent No. 20, namely, Gurbhaj Singh was arrayed as defendant No. 21 in the civil suit. The civil suit filed by the plaintiffs/appellants was dismissed by the learned 3rd Additional District Judge, Ambikapur, District Sarguja (C.G.) vide judgment and decree dated 16.04.2019. The present appeal was preferred by the plaintiffs against the aforesaid judgment and decree on 22.05.2019. This court issued notice to the respondents. According to the office report, it came on record that defendant No. 20 had expired in 2003, respondent No. 6 had expired in 2019 and respondent No. 35 expired on 30.04.2017. The appellants moved applications for bringing legal representatives of deceased respondents under Order 22 Rule 4 of CPC along with the application for setting aside abatement under Order 22 Rule 9 of CPC and an application for condonation of delay under Section 5 of the Limitation Act assigning reason that the fact of the death of these respondents was not brought into their knowledge.

2. During the course of argume