Section 9A CPC limits preliminary jurisdictional objections and excludes limitation disputes involving mixed questions of law and fact.

Section 9A CPC, as applied in Maharashtra, was construed narrowly to concern only the court's threshold competence to receive and try a suit, not a merits-based objection such as limitation or other statutory bars. A suit barred by limitation is not, for that reason alone, outside the court's jurisdiction to entertain. Mixed questions of law and fact cannot be decided as preliminary issues under Section 9A, because no evidence is contemplated at that stage. The earlier view in Foreshore Cooperative Housing Society Limited was disapproved, and the view in Kamalakar Eknath Salunkhe was approved.

---

---

Issues: Whether, under Section 9A of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, the expression "jurisdiction to entertain" includes a plea of limitation or other statutory bars, and whether such issues can be tried as preliminary issues when they involve disputed facts.

Analysis: Section 9A, as applicable in Maharashtra, was held to operate in a narrower field than Order XIV Rule 2. The expression "jurisdiction to entertain" was construed to mean the court's competence to receive and try the suit at the threshold, not the court's power to grant relief on merits after examining a plea such as limitation. The Court distinguished between the existence of jurisdiction and its erroneous exercise, and held that a suit barred by limitation is not, for that reason alone, outside the court's jurisdiction to entertain. It further held that mixed questions of law and fact cannot be decided as preliminary issues under Section 9A, and that no evidence is contemplated at that stage. The earlier view in Foreshore Cooperative Housing Society Limited was held not to be correct, while the view in Kamalakar Eknath Salunkhe was approved.

Conclusion: A plea of limitation or similar statutory bar is not, by itself, an objection to the court's jurisdiction to entertain the suit under Section 9A, and a mixed question of law and fact cannot be decided as a preliminary issue under that provision.

Ratio Decidendi: Under Section 9A of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, "jurisdiction to entertain" means the court's threshold competence to receive the suit for adjudication, and does not encompass a plea of limitation or other statutory bar that requires adjudication on disputed facts.

---