Panchapakesa Ayyar, J.—These are two petitions for setting aside the orders of the Sessions Judge of Madras in Criminal Miscellaneous Petitions Nos. 7 and 9 of 1957 on his file, transferring C.C. Nos. 96 and 2014 of 1957 from the file of the Fifth Presidency Magistrate, Madras, to the Chief Presidency Magistrate, Madras, for being tried and disposed of by himself or by some Magistrate named by him other than the Fifth Presidency Magistrate. These petitions first came up for hearing before Somasundaram, J., but, owing to an important constitutional question raised by the petitioners, viz., the alleged absence of jurisdiction in the Sessions Judge, Madras, to entertain transfer applications in respect of cases pending before the Presidency Magistrate of Madras, Somasundaram, J., directed these two cases to be posted before a Bench. That is how these petitions have come up before us.

We may now state briefly the facts which are a bit tangled and go back to a period of more than a year and are necessary, according to Mr. Vaz, the learned counsel for the petitioners, to understand the background and setting of these cases. The petitioners here, Abdus Samad Khan and Ahmed Moideen Khan, ha

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