NAWAB ZAHIR-UDDIN AHMED Vs. APPELLATE OFFICER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal from the judgment of Mehar Singh, J. who dismissed the petition of the Appellants under Article 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India.

(2.) The question raised in this appeal is whether the benefit in the abatement of the rate of interest provided in Section 9(1) of the Evacuee Interest (Separation) Act is restricted to the interest of an evacuee mortgagor only in the composite mortgaged property

(3.) Before setting out the relevant provisions whose interpretation is called for in this appeal, the facts giving rise to the dispute may usefully be narrated. Nawab Bashir-uddin Ahmed Khan, resident of Hyderabad (Deccan) was owner of one-half share of the property consisting of 21 shops and 4 bala khanas constructed on land situated in Moti Bazar, Chandni Chowk, Delhi. Nawab Bashir-uddin Ahmed Khan mortgaged on 20th of February, 1926, his share of the property in favour of Shri Narain Dass, for a sum of Rs. 40,000. He died in the year 1931, leaving behind his two sons, Zahir-uddin-Ahmed Khan and Alla-uddin-Ahmed Khan, and a daughter Hamida Begam. On 26th of September, 1936, the two sons and daughter of Bashir-uddin Ahmed Khan mortgaged the property for a sum of Rs. 32,300 with interest at the rate of 10 per cent, per annum, with Narain Dass. Narain Dass died in 1944, leaving behind Jamna Devi, his daughter, as his heir. She is a Respondent in this appeal. Allau-uddin left for Pakistan in 1947 and was declared as evacuee. Zahir-uddin and Hamida Begam. however, are residents of India and have not been declared evacuees. There can be no manner of doubt that Allau-uddin having become an evacuee, the property has become composite under the provisions of Evacuee Interest (Separation) Act, 1951 (hereinafter to be referred , to as the Act). On 24th of September, 1952, Jamna Devi, as the surviving heir of Narain Dass, made an application to the Competent Officer under Section 7(1) of the Act for separation of her interest in the composite property from that of Zahir-uddin and Hamida Begam. Under Section 7(1) of the Act, "any person claiming an interest in a composite property may.... submit to the competent officer a statement of his claim in writing and signed and verified in the prescribed manner." Under Sub-section (2) of Section 7, a statement of claim has to contain a variety of particulars, like the nature of the interest of the claimant in the composite property, the estimated money value of the composite property, the principal money and the rate of interest chargeable under the mortgage deed and other particulars of the mortgage.