IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA C.R. No.1153 of 2008 LABORATE PHARMACEUTICALS (INDIA) Versus JIBESH KUMAR ----------- 2 3.9.2008 Heard Counsel for the petitioner. In the opinion of this Court, the impugned order refusing to decide the question of territorial jurisdiction with regard to the maintainability of the suit as a preliminary issue under Order XIV Rule 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure is apparently a jurisdictional error. By now, it is settled as has been held by the Apex Court in the case of Abdul Rahman Vs. Prasony Bai & Anr. reported in AIR 2003 SC 718 and by this Court in the case of Messrs. K.C. Bishwas & Sons and others Vs. Central Alkusa Colliery Co. reported in AIR 1973 Patna 184 that an issue of territorial jurisdiction with regard to the maintainability of the suit is a preliminary issue and should be gone into at an initial stage under Order XIV Rule 2. The very purpose of Order XIV Rule 2 is dispose of a suit on a preliminary issue based on a pure question of law as that would enable the court to weed out the non-maintainable suit at the earliest possible opportunity. That being so, this Court would not approve the impugned order and accordingly, the same is hereby set aside with a direction to the Court below to 2 take up the issue of territorial jurisdiction and decide the same within a period of three months from the date of receipt/production of a copy of this order. With the aforementioned observations and direction, this civil revision application is allowed. Rsh (Mihir Kumar Jha, J.)