1. The salutary provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure (Amendment) Act, 1976, which were enacted for the laudable object of plugging the loopholes in processual law and, thus, expediting the conclusion of protracted litigation, appear to have failed to make an impact, at least in the present case. The facts may be noticed, though briefly. Respondents Nos. 1 to 6 (in the present Revision Petition) filed a suit against Hardwari Lal petitioner and 29 others (respondents Nos. 7 to 36) for possession by partition of the half share of two shops situated at Mohindergarh. The suit was contested and the trial Court framed the necessary issues to cover the controversial points. One of the issues, i. e. issue No. 3 was to the following effect :-

"Whether the suit is properly valued for purposes of court-fee and jurisdiction"?

It transpires that a prayer was made on behalf of the defendants that the above issue may be treated as a preliminary issue as the plaintiff had allegedly undervalued the suit property. The trial Court vide its order, dated February 22, 1977, considered this matter and was of the view that the question regarding the valuation of the property to be fixed, depen