This is a revision petition against a decree of the Small Cause Court dismissing the suit. A decree in favour of the plaintiff was originally passed ex parte . But on the application of the defendant, the ex parte decree was set aside. It is now pointed out on behalf of the plaintiff, who is the petitioner before us, that the decree amount was not deposited in Court, nor was security given as is provided in Sect. 17 of the Provincial Small Cause Courts Act; and we are referred to the ruling of a Full Bench of this Court in Assan Mohamed Sahib v. Rahim Sahib (I.L.R., 48 Mad., 579), for the position that the provisions of Sect. 17 (1) of the Provincial Small Cause Courts Act are mandatory, and that unless they are complied with, the order setting aside the ex parte decree is illegal. This appears to be so. In this case no security for the decree amount was given, and only half the decree amount was deposited subsequent to the application to set aside the order. We have made a special reference to the lower Court at the instance of the respondent to ascertain whether the full amount was at any time deposited and from the report now received it is clear that the full amount has never been deposited. The order setting aside the decree was therefore ultra vires. The decree now under revision is, set aside and the ex parte decree originally passed restored. In the circumstances, we direct each party to bear his own costs throughout.