GHULAM HUSSAIN And Others vs GHULAM ASGHAR (DECEASED) REPRESENTED
This matter arises from a pre-emption suit where the courts below applied the principle of sinker because three of the four co-vendees were strangers to the property while only one was a tenant. The core legal question concerned the applicability of the rule of sinker when a vendee associates strangers in a sale transaction that is not divisible. The Supreme Court of Pakistan held that the principle of sinker applies and the pre-emption suit is to be decreed against the vendees where a vendee having an equal or superior right associates a stranger with an inferior right, unless the impugned sale is divisible by specifying the share and the specific price paid by each vendee. The key principle laid down is that the doctrine of sinker operates to defeat a joint sale involving strangers unless the transaction clearly demarcates individual shares and respective purchase prices.
- Does the principle of sinker apply when a vendee associates strangers who have an inferior right of pre-emption?
- What conditions must be met for a sale transaction to be considered divisible in pre-emption suits?
- What is the legal effect on a transaction when a person having an equal or superior right associates a person with an inferior right of pre-emption?
ORDER
1. NASIM HASAN SHAH, J.--Out of the vendees only Mir Muhammad was a tenant whereas the remaining 3 co-vendees namely Ghulam Hussain, Muhammad Ali and Atta Muhammad were not tenants and strangers in so far as the question of pre-empting the sale was concerned. Hence the Courts below held rightly so, that the principle of "sinker" applied.
2. This Court has also recently, while disposing of Civil Appeals Nos.10/83, 20/83, 45/85, 103/85, 337/85, 365/85 and 218/86, held "that in pre-emption suits where a vendee having an equal superior right of pre-emption associates a stranger i.e. a person having an inferior right of pre-emption than the pre-emptor, the rule of sinker will apply and the suit decreed unless the impugned sale is divisible i.e. It is a sale wherein not only the share of each vendee is specified but the amount paid towards the price by each vendee is also specified." These conditions were not fulfilled in this case by the pre-emptors. Dismissed.