1. The following pedigree table will be helpful in understanding the facts of this case :-

RAM DIA | -----------------| | | Sugan Chand Ashrafi Devi Bohti (Son) (Vendor) (Daughter) = Mukhtiari (daughter) (vendor) (widow) | | Mula (son) Plaintiff Pre-emptor.

2 Ram Dia was the occupancy tenant of the land in dispute. On his death the occupancy rights were inherited by his son Sugan Chand. When Sugan Chand died, these rights were mutated in the name of his widow Mukhtiari in March, 1935. On the enforcement of the Punjab Occupancy Tenants (Vesting of Proprietary Rights) Act, 1952 (Punjab Act VIII of 1953), the occupancy tenants became owners of the land, with the result that Mukhtiaris occupancy rights also were enlarged into absolute ownership, she died in 1957 after the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, (hereinafter referred to as the Act) had come into force. by virture of the provisions of the Act, Sugan Chands sisters, Ashrafi Devi and Bohti, inherited the property left by Mukhtiari. In October, 1963, both these sisters sold the property and that sale led to a suit for pre-emtion by Mula and Karta Ram. The former claimed pre-emption on the ground that he was the son of Ashrafi D