Sinha, J.

1. The petitioner made an application for leave to sue in forma pauperis. In due course, the defendants appeared after notice and contested the application on the grounds, inter alia, that the plaintiff was a man of means, and could pay the court-fees chargeable on the plaint; that the suit was a champartous one, that the plaintiff had under-valued the property in suit; and that, on a proper valuation of the subject-matter of the suit, it would be beyond the pecuniary jurisdiction of the Court--in this case the Munsifs Court at Buxar. The defendants pleader asked the Court to decide the preliminary question of jurisdiction in the first instance, before going into the merits of the plaintiffs application for leave to sue as a pauper. The plaintiffs pleader contended that the Court, at that stage, had no jurisdiction to go into that question, and that, after the leave prayed for had been granted, and the plaint registered as a suit, the Court could go into the question as a preliminary issue in the suit after the defendants had filed their written statement, challenging the valuation of the subject-matter of the suit, and the pecuniary jurisdiction of the Court depe