KHAIR MOHAMMAD KHAN AND 5 Others vs WAHID BUX
This matter concerns a civil dispute over the possession of agricultural land, originally initiated by the petitioners who claimed the land was mortgaged to the respondent and subsequently redeemed. The respondent contended the transaction was an outright sale. The trial court decreed the suit in favor of the petitioners. During the pendency of the appeal, the Sind Rural Credit Land Transfer Act was amended in 1963. The District Judge applied the amended Section 3, which restricted the prohibition on land sales to specific debtor-creditor relationships, and dismissed the suit. The High Court dismissed the petitioners' second appeal, holding that because the transaction was a mortgage, the statutory bar in Section 3 of the Sind Rural Credit Land Transfer Act did not apply. Upon further appeal to the Supreme Court, the petitioners challenged the application of the amended law and the interpretation of the transaction. The Supreme Court found merit in the petitioners' contentions and granted leave to appeal, indicating that the lower courts' application of the law and interpretation of the transaction requires further judicial scrutiny.
- Does the amendment to Section 3 of the Sind Rural Credit Land Transfer Act 1963 apply retrospectively to pending suits?
- Whether a transaction characterized as a mortgage falls under the prohibition of sale provisions of the Sind Rural Credit Land Transfer Act?
- Can an appellate court apply an amended statute to a suit that was decided by the trial court prior to the amendment?
- Section 3, Sind Rural Credit Land Transfer Act 1963
ORDER
1. MUHAMMAD YAQUB ALI, J.----The petitioners sued for possession of the land in dispute on the averment that it Was mortgaged in 1954 with the respondent and that the entire mortgage money had been paid of. The respondent resisted the suit on the plea that the transfer in his favour was an outright sale and that by virtue of the amendment introduced by the Sind Rural Credit Land Transfer Amendment Act, 1963, section 3 which prohibited sale of agricultural land, did not apply to the transfer in his favour.
2. The trial Court decreed the suit on the .13th November 1961, against which the respondent preferred an appeal to the District Judge. The Sind Rural Credit Land Transfer Act . Was amended as aforesaid on the 17th April 1963, during the pendency of the suit. The District Judge applied the amended provisions of section 3 which limited the bar to a sale by a debtor to a creditor and in this view allowing the appeal dismissed the suit. The second appeal preferred by the petitioners was dismissed by the High Court on the finding that the transfer in favour of the respondent was a mortgage and as such the bar contained in section 3 of the Sind Rural Credit Land Transfer Act did not apply.
3. There is force in the contention raised by the petitioners. Leave to appeal is granted. Security-Rs.
4. 1,000.