HIRA SINGH, ETC. Vs. HARIA, ETC.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) HARIA was the owner of agricultural land, measuring 136 Bighas 4 Biswas, situate in village Jui Khurd, District Hissar. He sold the same to Mansukh and his two brothers Ram Saroop and Tara Chand for Rs. 14,000 by a registered sale -deed. This sale led to a suit for pre -emption by Hira Singh, Birbal and Harmukh. All of them claimed that they were the tenants on the land in dispute under the vendor and therefore, they had a preferential right to acquire this land. According to them, the sale had actually taken place for Rs. 7,000 and not Rs. 14,000 as mentioned in the deed.

(2.) THE suit as resisted by the vendees on a number of grounds. But, in the present second appeal, we are only concerned with one of them, namely, that the Plaintiffs had no preferential right of preemption.

(3.) THE Courts have decided the case against the Plaintiffs on the basis of an order, Exhibit D.A., passed by the Assistant Collector, 1st Grade, Bhiwani, District Hissar, on 31st December, 1958. Haria, landlord, the present vendor, had made an application against his tenants Hira Singh, Birbal, Harmukh, the present pre -emptors and Gugan another tenant, for their ejectment from some agricultural land, including the one, which is now in dispute, under Section 9 -A read with Section 14 -A of the Punjab Security of Land Tenures Act, 1953, as amended by Act XI of 1955, on the ground that the Applicant was a small land -owner. By the said order, the Assistant Collector decided as under: