S.S.Sodhi, J.

1. Where jurisdiction of the civil court is specifically barred by statutory provisions, can mere allegations of main, fides vest it with the requisite jurisdiction ? This would indeed be a startling proposition to accept, but as it happens the impugned order here of Shri A.S. Garg, Additional District Judge, Chandigarh, is founded upon precisely such premises.

2. Shri Kashmir Singh Bhullar of the P.C.S. (Judicial) Branch purchased a residential plot in Chandigarh. Proceedings in respect of the purchase of this plot were initiated against him under Chapter XX-A of the I.T. Act, 1961. It was these proceedings which Shri Kashmir Singh Bhullar sought to challenge in the civil court by alleging mala fides against Shri Sukhdev Chand, Defendant, Assistant Commissioner of Income-tax (Acquisition) Range, Ludhiana. In this suit a preliminary objection was raised with regard to the jurisdiction of the civil court to go into this matter in view of the provisions of Section 293 of the I.T. Act, 1961, which clearly bar the jurisdiction of the civil court in matters covered by this Act.

3. By a very peculiar process of reasoning which is best expressed in the very words of