56. Hearing and decision.- (1) Upon completion of the evidence (if any), the Registrar shall give notice to the parties of the first date of hearing. Such notice shall be ordinarily given within three months of completion of the evidence. The date of hearing shall be for a date at least one month after the date of the first notice. Within fourteen days from the receipt of the first notice, any party who intends to appear shall so notify the Registrar in Form TM-7. Any party who does not so notify the Registrar within the time as aforesaid may be treated as not desiring to be heard and the Registrar may act accordingly in the matter. (2) If sufficient cause for adjournment is not shown by either of the parties the Registrar may proceed with the matter forthwith. (3) If the applicant is not present at the adjourned date of hearing and has not notified his intention to attend the hearing in Form TM-7, the application may be treated as abandoned. (4) If the opponent is not present at the adjourned date of hearing and has not notified his intention to attend the hearing in Form TM-7, the opposition may be dismissed for want of prosecution and the application may proceed to registration subject to Section 19. (5) In every case of adjournment the Registrar shall fix a day for further hearing of the case and shall make such order as to cost occasioned by the adjournment or such higher costs as the Registrar deems fit. (6) The fact that the agent or advocate on record of a party is engaged in another court, shall not be a ground for adjournment. (7) Where illness of legal practitioner or an agent or his inability to conduct the case for any reason is put forward as a ground for adjournment, the Registrar may refuse to grant the adjournment unless he is satisfied that the legal practitioner or an agent, as the case may be, could not have engaged another agent or legal practitioner in time. (8) The Registrar shall take on record written arguments if submitted by a party to the proceeding. (9) The decision of the Registrar shall be notified to the parties in writing. | 