MAHLA RAM Vs. NANAK SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal by a displaced person under Section 40 of the Displaced Persons (Debts Adjustment) Act,, 1951 (hereinafter referred to as the Act, ). The impugned order was passed in pursuance of the final order of this Court in an application filed by the secured debtor of the displaced person under Sections 10 and 16 of the Act, .

(2.) The brief facts are that Mahla Ram mortgaged his land in West Pakistan with the petitioner Nanak Singh to secure an advance of Rs. 10,000. The mortgage deed was registered on the 18th of April, 1946. The mortgage was a simple mortgage and carried interest at the rate of fifty Naya Paise per cent per month. Both the mortgagor and the mortgagee migrated to India on the partition of the country in 1947. The mortgagor has been allotted land in village Ghullu, Tehsil Fazilka. The mortgagee claimed that amount due on the basis of the mortgage was Rs. 17,200 Rs. 7,200 being interest; and as the mortgagor had been allotted land in lieu of the land left in Pakistan, the mortgage charge stood transferred to the allotted land in India. The mortgagee did not wish to part with his security. Large number of contentions were advanced before the Tribunal and it is no longer necessary to advert to them Suffice it to say that the Tribunal rejected the application principally on the ground that the mortgage was void because it contravened Section 19 of the Colonization of Government Land (Punjab) Act,, 1912; inasmuch as no prior permission of the Colony Assistant had been obtained before effecting the mortgage. An appeal against this decision was taken to this Court by the mortgagee. The appeal came up for hearing before Dua J. and was disposed of by two orders dated the 28th of March, 1961 and 31st of May, 1962. The operative part of Dua J.'s order runs thus :-

(3.) In pursuance of the aforesaid order, the Tribunal has passed the impugned order; and the same is quoted below for facility of reference :-