JUDGMENT:

1. Heard Sri Tota Tejaswara Rao, learned counsel for the petitioner. There is no representation for the respondent.

2. The plaintiff-petitioner filed O.S.No.361 of 2015 in the court of VII Additional Senior Civil Judge, Visakhapatnam for a decree of mandatory and permanent injunction against the defendant-respondent. The suit was dismissed on 29.09.2022.

3. The petitioner preferred A.S.No. of 2023 with delay of 281 days. I.A.No.1625 of 2023 was filed under Order XLI Rule 3A of the Code of Civil Procedure (CPC) read with Section 5 of the Limitation Act , 1963, for cononation of delay in filing the appeal.

4. The petitioner, inter alia, submitted that after acquiring the knowledge of the dismissal of the suit, he approached the counsel to obtain the certified copy of the judgment and decree, to prefer the appeal within the stipulated time. But, the counsel did not apply for considerable period. The petitioner then approached another counsel but in vain he also did not file the appeal. The petitioner then took back the case file from that counsel and contacted the third counsel on 27.05.2023, who after verifying the certified copies and preparing the case, filed the appeal. But