Under the Mohammedan Law of Pre-emption, the pre-emptor must perform three 'talabs' or demands to secure the property he claims by right of pre-emption. The first 'talab', known as 'talab-i-mowasibat', requires the pre-emptor to assert his claim immediately upon getting information of the sale.

R Kaushalendra Rao, J—This appeal is by the Plaintiff in a suit for pre-emption. The pre-emption was claimed in respect of a half share in a house in Mehkar in Buldana district in Berar. The vendor, the vendee and the pre-emptor are all Mohammedans. The claim for pre-emption was based upon the Mohammedan Law of Pre-emption. The claim was decreed in the first Court but was dismissed by the first appellate Court holding that the Mohammedan Law of Pre-emption should not be applied to the case on principles of justice, equity and good conscience.

2. In second appeal it is contended for the Appellant that where the parties are all Mohammedans, it is not inequitable to apply the Mohammedan Law of Pre-emption. There is support for this contention in the decision reported in - ' Abdul Aziz v. Khairunnisa Begum, 1949 AIR(Nag) 361 (A) which relied on earlier cases of the Court of the Judicial Commissioner in - 'Mst. Sahibbee v. Bannoo Mian', 2 CP LR 231 (B) and - 'Abdul Razak v. Jagoba', 7 CP LR 117 (C). Those cases, the Respondent points out, related to the Central Provinces. But Berar is much more familiar with the right of pre-emption than the Central Provinces. It is however unnecessary to pronounce on this contention or the further contention that the right of pre-emption can no longer be recognised because it is in contravention of the fundamental right guaranteed by Article 19(f) of the Constitution. In my view the appeal must fail because of the preemptor's failure to comply with the rules of the Mohammedan Law concerning the right of pre-emption.

3. The first appellate Court held that the "demand made by the pre-emptor fully complied with the provisions of Section 186 of Mulla's Mohammedan Law (1944 Edn.)". To refer to the provisions of Section 186 of Mulla's Mohammedan Law, as though the section is part of a statute to be enforced or complied with, is not proper and is apt to be misleading. What the Court had to find was whether the preliminary 'demands' which were a condition precedent to the enforcement of the right of pre-emption under the Mohammedan Law were made in accordance with the rules of that law.

Under the Mohammedan Law the pre-emptor has to make the three 'talabs' to secure the property which he claims by right of pre-emption. The three talabs are 'talab-i-mowasibat', 'talab-i-ishhad' and 'talab-i-tamlik.' The suit now takes the place of the third 'talab' which originally meant the shafee (the pre-emptor) petitioning the Kazee to command the purchaser to surrender up the property to the Shafee. But the suit fails if either of the first two 'talabs' was not performed prior to its institution. The essence of the first 'talab' is that the pre-emptor must assert his claim immediately on getting information of the sale. Such assertion is known as 'talab-i-mowasibat'. 'Mowasibat' literally means jumping which connotes that the demand must be made with the utmost promptitude. The following passage from the 'Hidaya' illustrates how strict is the Mohammedan Law about the necessity for promptness on the part of the pre-emptor in making the first 'talab': If the Shafee receive a letter which, either in the beginning or the middle, apprises him of the circumstance of his Shaffa, and he read it on to the end, his right of Shaffa is thereby invalidated. Many of our modern doctors accord in this opinion; and it is in one place recorded as the doctrine of Mohammed. In another place, however, it is reported from him. that if the man claim his Shaffa in the presence of the company amongst whom he may be sitting when he receives the intelligence he is the Shaffee, his right not being invalidated unless he delay asserting it till after the company have broke up. Both these opinions are mentioned in the Nawadir; and Koorokhee passed decrees agreeably to the last quoted report;...

(page 550).

4. The second demand known as 'talab-i-ishhad' is by way of confirmation of the first de-mand in presence of witnesses. The pre-emptor must d