TMI Blog1968 (7) TMI 84X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling Area and Acquisition of Surplus Land) Act, XII of 1962 before the Collector. He annexed to his application the said copy of the sale deed and a copy of the challan evidencing his having deposited the sale price of ₹ 2,000 and an additional sum of 10 per cent thereof as required by the proviso to s. 16(3) (i) and r. 19 of the Bihar Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling Area and Acquisition of Surplus Land) Rules, 1963. On November 30, 1964, the Registrar completed registration by endorsing his certificate on the said sale deed under s. 60(1) and copying out the endorsement and the certificate in the relevant register under s. 61 ( 1 ) of the Registration Act, 1908. The appellant had in his said application claimed to be entitled as a co-sharer to the right of re-conveyance of the said land under s. 16(3) of the Act. On November 30, 1964, the Collector, on being satisfied that the application was proper, ordered possession to be given to the appellant under s. 16(3) (ii) pending its disposal. It is not in dispute that registration was completed on November 30, 1964, i.e., four days after the appellant had handed over his application and that though t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... thereof. as solatium and (b) the applicant made an application in the prescribed manner. The prescribed manner means the manner laid down by r. 19 under which an application is to be made in form L. C. 13 which requires the applicant to annex to his application a challan evidencing the deposit of the requisite amount in the relevant treasury, a copy of the registered sale deed, and a statement to that effect in the application. The High Court observed that S. 16(3) (ii) confers on the Collector the extraordinary power, without having to hold a preliminary enquiry, to dispossess the transferee and deliver to the applicant possession of the land in question pending the disposal of the application. It further observed that the exercise of this power was dependent on the condition that deposit has been made and that there has been a completed transfer, that is, a transfer evidenced by a copy of the registered deed of sale. Section 16 (2) (iii) provides that a transfer can only be made by a registered sale deed. The object of this clause and r. 19 is that the Collector who is required to direct possession from the transferee to the applicant ,can satisfy himself that the land is transfe ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ore the registering authority the total area held by him. Clause (ii) prohibits registration of the document, if from the said declaration it appears that the transaction is in contravention of sub-s. (1), that is to say, the acquisition would make the total area held by the transferee in excess of the ceiling area. Clause (iii) provides that no transfer, exchange, lease, mortgage, bequest or gift can be made without the document therefore duly registered. Sub-section (3) (1) provides that if any transfer is made to a person other than a co-sharer or a raiyat of an adjoining land, such a co-sharer or a raiyat shall be entitled within three months from the date of the registration to apply before the Collector in the prescribed manner for transfer of the land to him on terms and conditions in the said deed provided that no such application shall be entertained by the Collector unless the purchase money together with 10 per cent thereof is deposited in the prescribed manner within the said period. Clause (ii) provides that on such deposit being made the co- sharer or the raiyat shall be entitled to be put in possession of the land even though his application is pending. Under cl. (ii ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... pplicant to appear before him at a date to be specified in the notice and after giving the parties a reasonable opportunity of showing cause and of being heard shall either allow the application or reject it. Form L.C. 13 requires the applicant (a) to state that the transfer of the land has been made through a document registered on the date to be specified therein, (b) to enclose a copy of the challan in token of the deposit of the purchase money plus 10 per cent solatium, and (c) to enclose a copy of the registered deed by which the land has been transferred. From the contents of rr. 18 and 19 and Forms L. C. 12 and 13, it is clear that the object of these rules, firstly, is to enable the registering authority to see that the transferee does not by the transfer acquire land in excess of the ceiling area and, secondly, to enable the Collector to know that a transfer of the land has been made and that such transfer is completed by registration, the price paid for it and that the deposit made by the applicant is of a sum equivalent to the purchase price and 10 per cent thereof. It is manifest that the purpose for requiring the applicant to file a copy of the challan and of the re ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... onveyance accrued to the appellant and the Collector, therefore, could not entertain an application without such a right having already accrued to the applicant. The second contention was that the right conferred under s. 16(3) being a statutory right and it being inconsistent with the right of a citizen to hold and dispose of his property it must be exercised in strict conformity with the terms and conditions laid down in the Act and the Rules, that the language of r. 19 is mandatory, that the power of the Collector under s. 16(3) (ii) is extraordinary in the sense that without holding any preliminary enquiry he can direct the transferee to hand over possession of the land to the applicant. Therefore, he argued, the requirements of r. 19 must be held to be mandatory and that if they are not strictly cornplied with, the Collector would have no jurisdiction to entertain an application. Therefore, the appellant having failed to annex a copy of the registered deed of sale as required by r. 19 and Form L. C. 13 and having annexed only the certified copy of the unregistered deed of sale, his application was not in conformity with r. 19 and the Collector could not entertain it, much les ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... omplete except through a registered deed, a suit filed before the sale deed is executed is premature as the right of preemption under the statute did not accrue (1) [1962] 2 S.C.R.474. (2) [1961] 1 S.C. R. 8 till the transfer became effective through a registered deed. In Bishan Singh v. Khazan Singh(1) this Court laid down that in a suit for preemption the plaintiff must show that the right had acquired to him at the time when he exercised it. But the question whether the right of reconveyance had accrued to the appellant or not on November 26, 1964 appears to be academic. As already stated, his application was placed for the first time before the Collector on November 30, 1964 when admittedly registration was completed and thereupon the transfer also had become complete. A mere presentation of the application in the sense of the appellant having handed it over to some subordinate in the Collector's office cannot mean its having been entertained by the Collector on that date. There is, therefore, no merit in the contention that the Collector had entertained the application either on the 26th when it was taken by the appellant to the Collector's office or on the 28th whe ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d in any Court unless the original was produced before the officer duly stamped. It was held that this pro-vision did not invalidate the registration if the bill was not duly stamped when so produced for the object of the enactment was to protect the revenue and this was thought sufficiently attained if the deed was afterwards duly stamped without going to the extreme of holding the registration void. Similarly in King v. Linconshire Appeal Tribunal; Ex parte Stubbins(2) Regula- tion 19, Part 1, Section II of the Schedule to the Military Service (Regulations) Order, 1916 was held to be directory. The Military Service Act, 1916 provided that any person aggrieved by the decision of a local tribunal and a person generally or specially authorised by the army council to appeal from the decision of that tribunal may appeal against the decision of a local tribunal to the appeal tribunal of the area. The regulation provided that any such person may appeal against the decision of the local tribunal by delivering to that tribunal, in the prescribed form in duplicate, notice of appeal not later than three clear days after its decision, and the local tribunal shall thereupon send 'Lo the o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... there was sufficient compliance of s. 94(3). The publication was made in Hindi in a local paper which had good circulation in Rampur; there was no regularly published local Hindi newspaper. There was in the circumstances substantial compliance with the provisions of s. 94(3). At p. 975 this Court observed that the question whether a particular provision of a statute which on the face of it appears mandatory inasmuch as it used the word 'shall' is merely directory cannot be resolved by laying down any general rule and depends upon the facts of each case and for that purpose the object of the statute in making the Provision is the determining factor. The object of r. 19 in prescribing that the application under s. 16(3) must be accompanied by a copy of the registered deed is clearly to enable the Collector before he exercises his power thereunder to ascertain the purchase prices, the terms and conditions of the sale, the readiness of the applicant to have the land in question reconveyed to him on the same terms and conditions as in the sale deed and the fact of the applicant having deposited the relevant amount in the treasury. The purpose of prescribing that a copy of the r ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e the land in question reconveyed to him on the same, terms and conditions as in the sale deed and the transfer of the land to the transferee are conditions precedent to his acquiring the right of reconveyance and to the Collector's jurisdiction to try such an application, the prescription as to annexing a copy of the registered deed is only directory and is laid down to furnish necessary information to the Collector to enable him to proceed with it. Annexing a certified copy of the sale deed where a copy of the registered dead s not yet available, on account of the process of registration not having been completed would, in our view, be sufficient compliance of the directory prescription so long as it furnishes information necessary for the Collector to proceed with the application. The fact that a copy of the registered deed was not furnished along with the application was, therefore, not fatal to the application nor did such omission deprive the Collector of his jurisdiction to entertain.. it nor did it vitiate the proceedings before him or the order thereon made by him. The Board of Revenue and the High Court were not right in dismissing the appellant's application. In ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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