ORDER

This Civil Revision Petition has been filed by the petitioner to set aside the order of dismissal passed by the learned Principal District Judge, Tiruvannamalai in I.A.No.1 of 2022 in A.S.No.Nil of 2022 dated

01.08.2023.

2. Originally, the suit has been filed for partition by one of the sisters of the defendants seeking for declaring the alleged partition deed dated 18.11.2011 is tainted with fraud, illegal null and void and inoperative and from outright partition of all the suit properties into 7 equal shares and for 1/7th share and separate possession. In the said suit, preliminary decree was passed on 25.10.2021.

3. Aggrieved against the same, the petitioners sought for filing an Appeal Suit before the Principal District Court, Thiruvannamalai. I.A.No.1 of 2022 in A.S.Nil of 2022 was filed under Order 41 Rule 3(a) of C.P.C to condone the delay of 246 days in filing appeal. The petitioners are the 3rd and 4th respondents in the original suit. They were attending the Court regularly. Due to Covid-19 Pandemic Situation and they were aged about 62 and 52 years old, fearing for life they could not attend the trial court. When they have contacted their Advocate only on 25.06.2022, it was informed that they were set exparte on 25.10.2021, due to their non-

appearance on that date. They have submitted that there is only due to Covid-19 Pandemic situation, they could not appear and they prayed for condoning the delay of 246 days in filing the appeal.

4. The learned counsel for the respondents filed a detailed counter, in which, it is stated that there is no explanation for every days' delay. She has filed a Original Suit for setting aside the document as null and void and for 1/7 share of the property. The suit was decreed and the matter is posted for cross examination of P.W.1 and after a period of 8 months, the petitioner/3rd defendant filed an application under Order 26 Rule 10A r/w 151 of CPC in IA.No.510 of 2019 in OS.No.253 of 2014, to appoint an Advocate Commissioner to compare the signature of the plaintiff in the plaint with the original signature of the plaintiff in the partition deed document No.3414 dated 18.11.2011 on the file of the Sub Registrar Office, Chetpet and also filed a application under Order 7 Rule 11 of C.P.C in IA.No.511 of 2019 in OS.No.253 of 2014 for rejecting the plaint. Both the applications were dismissed by the Sub Court. Thereafter, they did not appear before the Sub Court and they did not pay the cost amount. The petitioners wilfully absented themselves after the filing of final decree application. Now, they filed appeal only to defraud the share of the first plaintiff. The Trial Court after considering the counter filed by the plaintiff was of the view that there is no proper reason stated in the tabular column which is as follows:

Sl.No.	Date of Petition and Nature of Petition	Date of hearing for enquiry	Date of Order	Nature of Order
1	Order 26 Rule Rule 10 of CPCI.A.510/2019 Order 7 Rule 11 of CPC. I.A.511/2019 on 19.11.2019	21.11.2019 06.12.2019	20.12.2019 10.01.2020 19.11.2020	Dismissed on the exemplary costs Rs.500/- each on both petitions

The dates of hearing for enquiry were 21.11.2019 and 06.12.2019 and the said applications were dismissed on cost of Rs.500/- in both applications on 20.12.2019 and 19.11.2020. The suit was instituted for partition and the respondents are relations and coparceners. The original suit was instituted for partition in the year 2014. On 11.12.2018, P.W.1/1st respondent herein was examined as P.W.1 and the cross examination of 3, 4, 5 respondents/ defendants 2, 5, 6 were completed. They came forward to examine P.W.1 only on 20.08.2019 and after that also the cross examination was not completed. The applications in I.A.Nos.510 and 511 of 2019 have been dismissed on imposing costs of Rs.500/- each in the above said applications.

They have not paid the cost and not complied with the said order.

5. Now, the petitioner has come forward w

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