NURI MIAN Vs. AMBICA SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal by defendant No. 1 named Nuri Mian against the appellate judgment of the District Judge of Saran, dated the 7th April 1914.

(2.) Ambica Singh, the plaintiff of the suit, sued Nuri Mian and Bansidhar, the two defendants in the suit, to establish his right of pre-emption. His case is that Bansidhar, defendant No. 2, sold his shares in three villages, namely, Maritand, Tola Ghyspur and Tola Pandaypur for Rs. 4,500 to Nuri Mian, defendant No. 1, on the 18th September 1912. In the plaint he alleged that Rs. 7,000 mentioned in the sale-deed as the consideration money is a fictitious amount and that he, on hearing from one Garju, one of his witnesses, for the first time on the 20th September 1912, performed the required ceremonies known as talab muasabat and talab istishhad. The defendant No. 1 contested the suit and traversed the allegations made in the plaint. The Subordinate Judge dismissed the plaintiff s suit, upon which the plaintiff appealed to the District Judge who allowed the appeal by decreeing the plaintiff s suit. The lower, Appellate Court further held that the, consideration money, namely, Rs. 7,000 mentioned in the deed of sale was the consideration money for the sale of the, shares although it included a sum of Rs. 500 as arrears of rent from the tenants, and it was directed that the amount at which the plaintiff might redeem was Rs. 7,000, and it, is this judgment which is the subject of the present appeal.

(3.) Before I refer to the grounds urged before us it is necessary to state that there was a partition proceeding with respect to the mahal wherein the shares were situated, but the partition was not complete on the date of sale. The partition was completed on the 22nd September 1913, and the sale of the shares took place on the 16th September 1912, which means that the mahal remained joint for a little over a year before the sale was made.