Thiru Alagarswami Chettiar the husband has preferred this appeal against the order in C.M.A. No. 15 of 1968 on the file of the learned District Judge of Madurai.

2. Srimathi A. Lakshmi, the respondent herein is the wife of the appellant and she had filed O.P.No. 143 of 1961, out of Which the appeal arises, for a decree for divorce against the appellant under section 13(2)(i) and section 26 and 27 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 The respondent herein is admittedly the second wife of the appellant, and it is not disputed that the marriage between the parties took place before the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955, came into force and that, on the date of the application for divorce, the first wife of the appellant was admittedly living. Nor is it disputed that, by virtue of the provisions of section 13 (2) (i) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, the respondent was entitled to present a petition for the dissolution of her marriage by a decree for divorce on the ground that the first wife of the appellant who had been married to the appellant before the commencement of the Act was alive at the time of the solomnization of the marriage of the respondent with the appellant.

3. The only que