A revenue sale extinguishes prior encumbrances, and the doctrine of lis pendens does not apply to revenue sales.

1. The application by the revision petitioner under 0.21 R. 97 C.P.C. for re-delivery of the property mentioned therein was dismissed by the lower court by the order sought to be revised. He had purchased this property on 20.6.1114 in auction under the Revenue Recovery Act and secured possession on 19.4.1117. The decree in the present case was passed on 22.6.1113 allowing the plaintiff to realise certain sums of money charged on the properties scheduled therein. Item 7 there is S. No. 310/5 which is the property sold in revenue auction. In execution of this decree portion of the money was realised and for the balance item 7 was sold in court auction on 19.8.1117 and purchased by the assignee-decree-holder. It was delivered over to the auction purchaser and the Amin filed his report to that effect on 16.10.1110. It is for the redelivery of this property that the petition was filed before the lower court.

2. The learned Munsiff dismissed the petition on the ground that it had not been proved that the revenue sale was for arrears of Sirkar tax due from this S.No. 310/5. As such it was the view of the lower court that the revision petitioner could rank only as a transferee pendente lite and that the decree and execution proceedings in this case would be binding on him.

3. Exts. I and II would show that the revenue sale was for arrears of tax due under Thandaper No. 144 of Thuravoor Vadakku pakuthy. Copy of this Thandaper No. 144 has been produced in this case and it is referred to by the Munsiff himself. That would show that the property in question is in that Thandaper. That is the twelfth item in page 3 of that document. Copies of the Revenue Sale diary and the Mahazar prepared at the time of attachment were produced in this court. Apart from these there is clear evidence to show that S. No. 310/5 is in Thandaper No. 144 and the opposite side did not dispute this. It had been held by a Full Bench in Narayanan v. Naina Muhammathu (28 T.L.J. 226) that a sale held for arrears of revenue is valid and will extinguish prior encumbrances even though it was held for recovery of arrears due on the land sold as well as other lands belonging to the defaulter. Thus the view of the court below that the land sold in revenue auction could be free of all encumbrances only if such sale was for arrears of tax due on that land is not correct. The sale was for arrears of tax under a Thandaper for this and other properties and that sale will also be free of all encumbrances. It may also be mentioned that copy of the Thandaper produced would show that tax due from this property was also in areas. Thus the order passed by the learned Munsiff is wrong and has to be set aside.

3. But some difficulty had been created by an observation of a Division Bench in Janaki Amma v. The Dewan of Travancore (1949 T.L.R. 36) that the doctrine of lis pendens applies both to voluntary and involuntary sales including revenue sales. The revenue sale in question was in 1114 when this charged decree was pending execution. The observation thus made in 1949 T.L.R. would therefore indicate that the revenue sale is vitiated by lis pendens and that will not affect the rights of the auction purchaser in execution of the decree. This observation or dictum is against the decision of the Full Bench in 28 TLJ 226. That holds that a revenue sale puts an end to all the charges whether those charges had merged in a decree of court or not. Otherwise there would be no meaning for the provisions in Ss. 2 and 39 of Act I of 1068 that the land, the buildings upon it, and its products shall be regarded as security for the Public Revenue on such land, and that all lands brought to sale on account of arrears of revenue due thereon shall be sold free of all encumbrances. If the said observation in 1949 TLR 36 purports to lay down a proposition of law, I would with all respect, state that the law was not correctly stated and that it is opposed to the Full Bench ruling in 28 TLJ 226. I w