MAST RAM Vs. MAKHNU

JUDGEMENT

(1.) "Whether a widow who succeeded to the estate of her husband before the coming into force of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 and thereafter her estate becomes enlarged to the full ownership, can be said to have succeeded through her husband to the property in terms of Section 15 (2) of the Punjab Preemption Act." is the short though controversial question which has been referred to this Full Bench.

(2.) The circumstances which have given rise to this reference may be briefly sketched like this: one Moti Ram who was the last male holder of the land which forms subject matter of the present litigation. He died issueless in the year 1930 leaving behind his widow, Smt. Lachhmi as his sole heir. Smt. Lachhmi thus succeeded to the land of her husband in her capacity of a Hindu widow. Of course under the law then in force all that she got as a result of this succession was a limited estate or what was then known as a 'widow's estate'. She continued to possess this land till the enactment of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, hereinafter referred to as 'the Succession Act'. By virtue of the provisions of Section 14 (1) of this Act, she was declared full and absolute owner of this land.

(3.) Thereafter in the year 1964, she sold the land in question to the present appellants, Mast Ram and Paras Ram for a consideration of Rs. 2,000/- vide registered sale deed dated 7-1-1964. Shri Makhnu, the respondent herein, was at that time a tenant in respect of 1/4th of this land under the Vendor. He claimed that by virtue of his tenancy he had a superior right of preemption as against the vendees who were only strangers. The respondent claimed to derive his superior right of pre-emption under Section 15 (1) (a) of the Punjab Preemption Act, hereinafter referred to as the Pre-emption Act. He accordingly brought his suit which gave rise to the appeal out of which this reference has arisen, to enforce his aforesaid pre-emptive right.