JUDGMENT

E. S. VENKATARAMIAH, J. :— The petitioners were plaintiffs. They instituted a suit in a representative capacity under O. 1, R. 8 of the Civil P.C. in the Court of the Additional Senior Sub-Judge, Barnala for a declaration that they were the owners in possession of the suit land along with some others, that the Gram Panchayat, Mehal Kalan, Tehsil Barnala, District Sangrur in the State of Punjab (hereinafter referred to as the Panchayat) had no sort of right in the suit land and that the suit land had been wrongly shown as belonging to the Panchayat by the entries made in the revenue records which were not binding on the plaintiffs and for an injunction restraining the Panchayat from interfering their possession. The Panchayat in the course of its written statement inter alia pleaded that the court before which the suit had been instituted had no jurisdiction to try it by virtue of the provisions of S. 13 of the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act, 1961 (Punjab Act No. 18 of 1961) (hereinafter referred to as the Act). The trial court framed an issue relating to its jurisdiction and tried it as a preliminary issue. It held that since the question involved in the suit