HAKIM ALI Versus KHALIL AHMAD

1. MUHAMMAD AFZAL ZULLAH, J.‑‑ Leave to appeal has been sought by pre‑emptors against the decision of the High Court in a Regular Second Appeal.

2. The petitioners have been non‑suited after initial grant of the decree, on the ground that they had failed to furnish the bond and surety in accordance with the direction of the Court under section 22(1) of ,the Punjab Pre‑emption Act.

3. The first two Courts treated the bond/surety furnished by the petitioners (page 38 of the Paper Book) as the proper one. The High Court, however, thought that the bond did not contain the necessary words, so as to satisfy the language of subsection (1) of section 22 of the Act.

4. We have read the entire document. It seems that proper attention was not given to the reverse page of the bond which clearly satisfied the order of the Court as also the language of the statutory provision.

5. Even the bond on the front page could be interpreted as having satisfied section 22(1) as prima facie the words used in the document would satisfy the condition.

6. Although according to the learned counsel, instead of writing full amount, as a Zari "Saman" only Zari "Panjum" was written by the mistake of the draftsman which clearly appears to be cogent and reasonable and also could be accepted; we are of the view that the' question might be examined as to whether the amount recoverable would be Zari Saman or Zari Panjum under section 22(1) of the Act. One view would be that notwithstanding the bond for Zari Saman the recovery would be only for Zari Panjum to which the said provision relates. This question being of first impression together with other questions involved in this case, requires examination. Leave to appeal accordingly is granted. Security Rs.5,000/‑. The appeal to be made ready on the present record with direction to the parties to file all I necessary additional documents within two months.

7. M.B.A./H‑42/S Leave granted.