SARJU PRASAD Vs. BHAGWATI PRASAD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal is up for admission under Order 41, Rule 11, and from the date of the sale which took place in November 1923, it appears that the law to be applied is that contained in the Agra Pre-emption Act, Act XI of 1922.

(2.) Two wajib-ul-arzes were filed in the case, one of the year 1833 and the other of 1860 and Dr. Agarwala, who appears for the vendee-appellant, informs us that the wajib-ul-arz of 1860 contains no provision for pre-emption. He, therefore, refers us to the language of Sec. 5 of the Agra Pre-emption Act, Act XI of 1922, as it stood before it was altered by the amending Act, Act VIII of 1923. According to the former state of things, Section 5 laid down that a right of pre-emption should be deemed to exist only in mahals or villages in respect of which the wajib- ul-arz prepared prior to the commencement of this Act recorded a custom, contract or declaration, etc.

(3.) On the language of this section as it stood, it necessarily followed that the wajib-ul-arz to be considered was the last one prepared prior to the commencement of the Act. The amending Act, Act VIII of 1923, however, altered the language and laid down that the right was to be deemed to exist in mahals in respect of which any wajib-ul-arz prepared prior to the commencement of the Act records a custom, etc. and it is to be observed that this Act was given retrospective effect so as to apply from the date on which the Agra Preemption Act came into force, that is to say, from the 17 of February, 1923.