1. This First Appeal under Section 96 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (for short, 'the C.P.C.') is at the instance of the original plaintiff and is directed against the judgment and decree passed by the 9th Additional Senior Civil Judge, Vadodara dated 30th June 2015 in the Special Civil Suit No.219 of 2003, by which the Civil Court dismissed the suit filed by the plaintiff seeking specific performance of contract based on an agreement of sale.

CASE OF THE PLAINTIFF :

2. The respondents herein are the original defendants. They are the lawful owners of the suit land bearing survey No.585 admeasuring 14,346 sq. mtrs. situated at village : Gorva, District : Vadodara. The suit land is of restricted tenure land. To put it in other words, the property in dispute is a new tenure. The owners of the property executed an agreement of sale dated 21st January 1993 Exhibit : 98 with respect to the suit land in favour of the plaintiff. The owners decided to sell their land at the rate of Rs.10.90 per sq. ft. The three main conditions, as stipulated in the agreement of sale, are :

(1) The sale deed was to be executed within a period of three years;

(2) The plaintiff agreed to obtain all the necessary permissions from the revenue authorities including the payment of the amount of premium, etc, that may be fixed by the concerned authorities;

(3) In the event of the necessary permission being declined by the concerned authorities, the amount paid by the plaintiff to the owners would have to be paid back to the plaintiff.

3. It appears from the materials on record that the agreement of sale dated 21st January 1993 Exhibit : 98 referred to above came to be cancelled with the mutual understanding of the parties on the ground that the plaintiff failed to pay the requisite amount towards the sale consideration to the owners in time. It also appears that the agreement of sale dated 21st January 1993 Exhibit : 98 was extended for a further period of one year i.e. upto 24th January 1996. A second agreement to sale came to be executed by the owners in favour of the plaintiff dated 27th October 1997 Exhibit : 96 with respect to the very same property. The sale price fixed in the said agreement Exhibit : 96 was Rs.17/- per sq. ft. It was understood between the parties that if the necessary permissions were not obtained by the plaintiff within a period of one and half years, then the time period to perform the contract would be extended only with the consent of the owners.

4. It is the case of the plaintiff that as the suit land is of restricted tenure and is covered under Section 43 of the Bombay Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act, 1948 (for short, 'the Tenancy Act, 1948), he applied with the office of the Collector for the necessary permission to convert the new tenure land to old tenure. The plaintiff received a communication dated 16th September 2000 Exhibit : 100 from the office of the Collector, Vadodara, calling upon the plaintiff to deposit an amount of Rs.1,02,03,724/- (in words : Rupees One Crore Two Lakh Three Thousand Seven Hundred Twenty Four only) towards the premium. The plaintiff was also conveyed that the premium amount shall have to be deposited within twenty one days. The area of the suit land shown in the communication Exhibit : 68 is 12,150 sq. mtrs.

5. It is the case of the plaintiff that he failed to deposit the premium amount referred to above as he intended to transfer his rights under the agreement of sale to a third party. However, the fact remains that the premium amount could not be paid by the plaintiff and he has very candidly admitted the same. In such circumstances, the permission granted by the Collector to convert the new tenure land to old tenure automatically lapsed. The land, as on date, continues to be of the restricted tenure.

6. It is the case of the plaintiff that the land owners issued a public notice dated 14th January 2003 in a daily newspaper 'Sandesh' for the purpose of obtaining the title clearance cert