LAWS(PVC)-1923-12-46

MAULVI SHARIF AHMAD ALVEE Vs. MUHAMMAD

Decided On December 30, 1923
MAULVI SHARIF AHMAD ALVEE Appellant
V/S
MUHAMMAD Respondents

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal raises a somewhat difficult question of interpretation in connection with the provisions of a certain wajib-ul-arz relating to pre-emption.

(2.) According to what is stated in the, wajib-ul-arz, on the occasion of a transfer, the first right to take the property is given to a class which is defined in the wajib- ul-arz as "shur-kayan shikmi." It is provided that in case the members of the first class decline to accept the offer of the property then the offer is to be made to the second class of persons who are described as "digar malikan thok o mahalke" A great deal of controversy has arisen regarding the meaning to be attached to the words "shurkayan shikmi." We have been referred to a decision of a Bench of this Court reported in Abdul Shakur V/s. Mendai 23 A. 260 : A.W.N. (1901) 63. In that case it was sought to attribute to the expression "hissedaran shikmi" a meaning derived from blood relationship. In other words, the suggestion was that hissedaran shikmi were people who had issued from the same "shikam;" that is to say, the expression was used in the same sense as the English expression "uterine brothers."

(3.) This interpretation was definitely rejected by both Judges in that case and on the interpretation of the wajib-ul-arz in that case it was held that "hissedaran shikmi" meant in that particular case co-sharers in the same khata, the khata being a smaller sub-division of a patti. A patti is, in the ordinary acceptance of the term, a smaller division than the thok.