Judgement

Appeal (No. 96 of 1927) from a decree of the Judicial Commissioner of the North-West Frontier Province (July 4, 1925) reversing a decree of the Divisional Judge, Deerajat Division, which affirmed a decree of the Honorary Subordinate Judge, Dera Ismail Khan.

One Mohammad Khan, the predecessor in title of respondents 17 to 21, owned thirty-one plots of lands at Dera Ismail Khan ; he had superior and inferior proprietary rights, also cultivating rights therein. By a deed dated May 6, 1898, he executed a usufructuary mortgage of the plots in favour of persons now represented by respondents 1 to 16 for a term of nineteen years to secure a loan of Rs.2150.

The deed contained the following condition "After the expiry of the fixed period, if I pay Rs.2160, the mortgage money, to the mortgagees, I shall be entitled to receive one pai per path out of the produce as my haq-khuti; and the mortgagees to the remaining dues, such as mahsul and jora. The mortgagees shall have the adna (inferior) proprietary rights and the cultivating possession, with which I shall have no concern."

In 1920 the appellant bought the properties subject to the mortgage from the heirs and representatives of t