( 1 ) ONE of the important questions to be decided in this appeal is whether the agreement Ex. A-6 is a lease falling within the ambit of Section 17 (1) (d) and, therefore, comes within the mischief of Section 49 of the Indian Registration Act. The Act defines a lease as including an agreement to lease.

( 2 ) THE Privy Council decision in Hemanta Kumari Debi v. Midhapur Zamindari Co. ILR 47 Cal 485 at p. 494: (AIR 1919 PC 79, at p. 80) dealt with the meaning of the phrase agreement to lease and their Lordships made the following observations :". . . . . the Registration Act of 1908 provides that lease includes an agreement to lease, and by Section 17 enacts that leases must be registered, the penalty for non-registration being imposed by Section 49, which provides that if not registered, no document shall affect immovable property which it comprises or be received as evidence of any transaction affecting such property. If the document in question can be regarded as a lease within the meaning of this definition it could not be received in evidence. Then Lordships are of Opinion that it cannot be so regarded. An agreement for a lease, which a lease is by the statute