BADAR DURREZ AHMED, J.

1. The present appeal has been filed by defendant nos. 1&2 being aggrieved by the order dated 16.09.2016 passed in CS(OS) 40/2016. The said suit was filed by the respondent nos. 1&2. By virtue of the impugned order dated 16.09.2016 issues have been framed and certain directions have been given with regard to the manner of conduct of the trial.

2. Three points have been raised by the appellants. The first point is that the learned Single Judge could not have directed the treatment of issue no.1 as a preliminary issue as the same was not in line with the provisions of Order 14 Rule 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (‘CPC’). The second point urged by the learned counsel for the appellants was that the onus of issue no.2 could not have been placed on the defendant nos. 1&2, that is, the appellants herein. The third point raised by the learned counsel for the appellants pertains to the directions given by the learned Single Judge that the defendant nos. 1&2 (the appellants herein) should lead evidence first. This was, of course, based on the premise that the onus of the main issue was on defendant nos. 1&2.

3. The learned counsel for the respondents su