This C.M.A. is filed against the order passed in I.A. No. 2508 of 1999 in O.S. No. 696 of 1996 of the Sub Court, Palakkad. That was the suit filed against the present petitioner for return of the advance amount paid by the plaintiff. When the suit came up for hearing on 14th September, 1998 the defendant was absent. Counsel for the defendant reported 'no instruction'. The defendant was set ex parte. Then an ex parte order was passed. An affidavit was filed by the plaintiff. The suit was decreed on 14th September, 1998. Thereafter a petition was filed to set aside the ex parte decree. There, petitioner stated that she could not contact her lawyer because she was not well due to her heart operation. She also stated that she had developed problems on her right leg which prevented her from undertaking journey and in such circumstances she could not appear before the Court. She came to know about the decree when she

received notice in the execution proceedings.

2. There is a delay of 335 days in filing the petition to set aside the ex parte decree. The trial court dismissed the application on the ground that the heart operation was performed about nine years before the passing