HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD LUCKNOW SPECIAL APPEAL No. - 419 of 2025 Court No. - 1 HON'BLE RAJAN ROY, J. HON'BLE INDRAJEET SHUKLA, J. 1. Heard. 2. This is a special appeal challenging the order dated 29.10.2025 passed by learned Single Judge in Writ-A No.6212 of 1999 [Vinod Kumar Misra vs. Vice-Chancellor Lucknow University, Lucknow And 5 Others] by which two applications one for condoning the delay and laches in filing the application for recall of an order dated 11.09.2017 and the other application for recall of the said order have been dismissed on the ground of lack of due diligence on the part of the appellant-petitioner in pursuing his case. 3. The facts before us are that the appellant had engaged Sri Parmanand Sharma and Sri Ved Prakash Shukla, Advocates for arguing the said writ petition and thereafter, he had engaged Sri Nirankar Nath Jaiswal and Sri Prashant Jaiswal, Advocates for the same purpose. Sri N.N. Jaiswal being the senior most amongst the aforesaid was the main counsel. He unfortunately died on 06.04.2021. The appellant-petitioner could not come to know about the death of N.N. Jaiswal, Advocate as he did not receive any communication. Prior to his death, the writ petition had been dismissed on 11.09.2017 but none of the aforesaid counsel informed the appellant-petitioner herein. He came to know about dismissal of the writ petition only on 18.04.2022 i.e. after death of Sri N.N. Jaiswal. Thereafter, he engaged Sri Rajendra Prasad Shukla as his counsel to seek Versus Counsel for Appellant(s) : Lalta Prasad Misra, Tarun Mishra Counsel for Respondent(s) : Savitra Vardhan Singh Vinod Kumar Misra .....Appellant(s) Vice Chancellor Lucknow University, Lucknow And 5 Others .....Respondent(s) appropriate remedy. Then, he filed the aforesaid applications on 20.04.2022. Consequently, the aforesaid applications for recall were filed which have been dismissed by learned writ court. Reliance has been placed on Supreme Court decision in the case of 'Thirunagalingam vs. Lingeswaran & Anr' reported in (2025) SCC OnLine SC 1093 and 'H. Guruswamy and Ors. vs. Krishnaiah Since Deceased by Lrs.' reported in (2025) SCC OnLine SC 54. 4. Purely in the facts of this case, if the counsel did not inform the appellant-petitioner about dismissal of the petition then the latter cannot be made to suffer. Courts always lean towards a decision on merit rather than one in default. Purely in the facts of this case, we are of the opinion that this was not a case where applications for condonation of delay and recall of the order dated 11.09.2017 should have been dismissed. We, accordingly, set aside the impugned order and the allow the applications for condonation of delay and recall of the order dated 11.09.2017 especially as question of sustenance of the appellant-petitioner is also involved based on his challenge to his dismissal. Consequently, the writ petition bearing Writ-A No.6212 of 1999 shall stand restored to its original number and shall now be listed before the appropriate Bench of this Court in the third week of January, 2026 amongst first ten cases of the day. 5. Accordingly, the special appeal is allowed. December 4, 2025 Shanu/- SPLA No. 419 of 2025 2 (Indrajeet Shukla,J.) (Rajan Roy,J.) Digitally signed by :- SHANU SUMAN High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, Lucknow Bench