Defendants are the petitioners and being aggrieved by the order of the learned District Judge of South Arcot on the preliminary issues tried by him, they have preferred this civil revision petition.

The preliminary issues on which the order in question has been passed are to the following effect: (1) Whether under section 57 of the Madras Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act (Act XIX of 1951), the District Court had jurisdiction to try a suit without the matter being first enquired into by the Deputy Commissioner. The second issue was whether section 57 of the Act was itself ultra vires of the powers of the legislature. On both the issues the learned District Judge found that the District Court had jurisdiction to try the suit that it was maintainable in his Court and also held that there was no need for referring to the High Court the question as to the validity of section 57 of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act (Act XIX of 1951). After giving this finding he has posted the case for trial.

The learned counsel for the petitioners, Mr.T.V. Balakrishnan, contends that section 57 is a bar to the maintainability of the suit in the District Court Sectio