1. The petitioner is the second defendant in a suit for recovery of a sum of money alleged to be due to the plaintiff under a karar. That claim was being contested by the defendant and the case came up for trial on 1-9-1972. On that day the defendant did not appear and on the same day the suit was decreed by the learned Munsiff on the merits. On 16-9-1972 the second defendant filed an application to set aside the ex parte decree alleging that he was prevented by sufficient cause from appearing on the day the case stood posted for trial. That application was dismissed on 22-1-1973 stating that the disposal of 1-9-1972 was on the merits and so an application under Order IX R.13 will not lie. The petitioner applied for a copy of that order and that was received by him on 3-9-1973. Subsequently on 24-9-1973 he filed an appeal before the lower court as A. S.194 of 1973 and along with that he also filed an application to excuse the delay in filing that appeal. The ground stated in the affidavit in support of the petition is that when he took the papers for filing a revision his advocate told him that the disposal of the case on 1-9-1972 is a disposal on the merits and therefo