PARMESHARI DIN Vs. RAM CHARAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal, which has been heard ex parte, raises the question of the application of the doctrine of lis pendens to a transfer of immoveable property, upon which the appellant founds his claim. The facts bearing upon the question lie within a narrow compass. The plaintiffs, who are respondents before their Lordships, were mortgagees of the property in dispute, and commenced in 1923 an action for the foreclosure of the mortgage against the mortgagor, Nurul Hassan and one Ram Narain. They obtained, on September 30, 1924, a preliminary decree for foreclosure, which, after an unsuccessful appeal by Ram Narain to the Chief Court at Lucknow, was followed on July 28, 1928, by a final decree for foreclosure.

(2.) The decree-holders then made an application for the recovery of the property by executing their decree, and obtained symbolical possession from the judgment-debtors. The appellant, Parmeshari Din, was, however, in actual possession of it, and he based his title to it upon a usufructory mortgage granted to him by Nurul Hassan, on February 15, 1924, and upon a sale of the equity of redemption in February, 1928, in execution of a money decree against the mortgagor. It will be observed that the mortgage and the sale invoked by the appellant took place during the pendency of the plaintiffs' suit for foreclosure; and the plaintiffs, relying upon the rule of lis pendens, sought to recover possession of the property from the transferee. The Court of first instance dismissed the application, but the Court of Appeal has granted it, holding that the transfer in favour of the appellant being pendente lite cannot adversely affect the rights of the plaintiffs; and that the appellant is bound by the decree in their favour to the same extent as his transferor.

(3.) Against the judgment of the Court of Appeal, the transferee has preferred this appeal, and it is argued on his behalf that the doctrine of lis pendens does not apply, as there was no active prosecution of the suit, when the transfer in question was made. Now, Section 52 of the Transfer of Property Act, IV of 1882, which embodies the rule of lis pendens, prohibited a transfer made during the active prosecution of a suit or proceeding in which any right to immoveable property was directly and specifically in question. The expression "active prosecution," which existed in the section before its amendment in 1929, led to much uncertainty in the application of the rule, and caused a divergence of judicial opinion. It was felt that the standard of diligence, which would constitute " active prosecution," could not be defined with precision. To remove this uncertainty, the law was amended in 1929, and the amending Act XX of 1929 substituted the word "pendency" for the phrase " active prosecution "; and there can now be no difficulty in deciding whether the transfer was made during the pendency of a suit or proceeding.