Jagat Mohan Nath Sahi Deo vs Jaipal Singh and others

Das, J.—I think that these appeals must fail on the short ground that there was a material irregularity in publishing or conducting the sale of a property which being of a very considerable value has been sold for Rs. 2,000. In his application for sale the decree-holder stated that Rs. 2,000 was the value of the property and it is for Rs. 2,000 that he has purchased the property. It has been pointed out before us on behalf of the respondents that under the Chota Nagpur Tenancy Act, it was not the duty of the decree-holder to give the valuation of the property sought to be sold and if it was the fault of anybody at all it was the fault of the Court. It seems to me that the circumstances present in this case are similar to those which were present in this case of Saadatmand Khan v. Phul Kuer (1898) 20 All. 412 (P.C.). It was argued in that case that the value of the property should not have been mentioned in the sale proclamation; and that as the entry was uncalled for and not legally obligatory, to give a wrong value was no reason for setting aside the sale. The Judicial Committee pointed out that this was a mistaken view and proceeded to say as follows :-

That the misstatement is something more grave that an ordinary irregularity of procedure, but the fact that it is so, and that it was made gratuitously by the decree- holder and the Court, does not prevent it from being ''a material irregularity in publishing or conducting'' the sale, such as to bring the case within the special remedy provided by section 311. Whatever material fact is stated in the proclamation (and the value of the property is a very material fact) must be considered as one of those things ''which the Court considers material for the purchaser to know,'' and it is enacted in terms (though express enactment is hardly necessary for such an object) that those things shall be stated as fairly and accurately as possible.

I am not deciding that this case is any authority under the present Civil Procedure Code, for the Code requires the Court to come to a decision us to the value of the property. But under the Chota Nagpur Tenancy Act there is no provision requiring the Court to assess the value of the property sought to be sold. It is quite true that there are no rules in the Chota Nagpur Tenancy Act which require the parties to assess the value of the property sought to be sold : but the value was undoubtedly given by the decree-holder with the result that the property which was of very great value has been sold for an insignificant sum of money.

In these circumstances I am of opinion that the order of the learned Judicial Commissioner should be affirmed.

I would accordingly dismiss these appeals with one set of costs.

Ross, J.

I agree.