IMPORANT POINT
When the certificate of grant of bhumidari is issued under Section 137 of U.P. Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act it relates back and be effective from the date on which the amount referred to under Section 134 (1) of the Act has been deposited.

JUDGMENT

Kirpal, J.-The question involved in this case pertains to the interpretation of Sections 134 and 137 of the U.P. Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act as the said provisions existed in 1964-1965.

2. Briefly stated the facts are that one Bechan was a sirdar of agricultural land which consisted of six plots. On 25th August, 1964, he filed an application under Section 134 of the said Act before the revenue authorities and paid an amount equal to 10 times the land revenue and prayed that he should be declared a bhumidar. It is an admitted case of the parties that it is only on such declaration taking effect that he could sell the said land.

3. After the said application had been filed and the land revenue deposited, Bechan executed a sale deed on 25th August, 1964 selling the said land to the plaintiffs, who are the appellants herein. Before any order could be passed granting the bhumidari certificate, Bechan died on 15th September, 1964. The problem for the plaintiffs arose when on 5th January, 1965 the widow of Bechan sold that very land to the defendants, who are the respondents in this appeal. On 9th February, 1965, the sanad was issued under Section 137 in the name of Bechan with effect from 25th August, 1964, the date when the said land revenue had been paid along with the application for grant of bhumidari certificate.

4. The appellants/plaintiffs then filed a suit in the triat Court challenging the validity of the sale deed dated 5th January, 1965 in favour of the respondents/defendants. The trial Court dismissed the suit having come to the conclusion that the appellants herein had not deprived any valid title to the property in question because on the date when the sale deed was executed on 25th August, 1964 Bechan had not been declared as a bhumidar under Section 137. In appeal, the lower appellate court reversed the decision of the trial Court and decreed the suit. In arriving at this conclusion, the lower appellate court was of the opinion that the certificate which was granted under Section 137 would relate back to the date of the application and, therefore, the appellants herein had acquired the title on 25th August, 1964 and, consequently, the sale deed of that very land on 5th January, 1965 executed by the widow of Bechan was not valid.

5. The High Court, in a second appeal being filed, reversed the decision of the lower appellate court and held that on 25th August, 1964 Bechan had not acquired any right, title or interest which he could transfer because the order on his application for grant of the bhumidari certificate had been passed only on 9th February, 1965. In coming to this conclusion, the High Court relied upon a Full Bench decision of the Allahabad High Court reported as Banshidhar v. Smt. Dhirajadhari and Others1, and also a Single Judge decision reported as Mobin Khan v. Chunnu Khan and Others2. Hence, this appeal by speical leave.

6. As we have already indicated, the decision in this appeal depends upon the interpretation of Sections 134 and 137 of the U.P. Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act. These Sections read as follows:

"S. 134. Acquisition of bhumidhari rights by a sirdar.-(1) If a sirdar belonging to the class mentioned in clause (a) of Section 131 pays or offers to pay to the credit of the State Government an amount equal to ten times the land revenue payable or deemed to be payable on the date of application for the land for which he is the sirdar, he shall, upon an application duly made in that behalf to an Assistant Collector, be entitled, with effect from the date on which the amount has been deposited, to a declaration that he has acquired the rights mentioned in Section 137 in respect of such land :

Provided that the rights to pay or offer to pay the amount aforementioned shall cease on the expiry of three months from the date to be notified by the State Government.

Explanation I-In this sub-section land includes shares in land.

Explanation II-For the purpose of this section