Civil Appeal No 774 of 1966
Appeal by special leave from the judgment and decree dated August 31 1965 of the Punjab High Court in Letters Patent Appeal No 91 of 1961
Harbans Singh for the appellant
804 Bishan Narain and SK Mehta for the respondent
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by Grover J
This is an appeal by special leave from a judgment of a division bench
of the Punjab High Court decreeing the suit filed by the respondent for possession of certain land by preemption
The facts may be shortly stated Santa Singh was the owner of some land in village Samadh Bhai tehsil Moga
He died leaving a widow Smt
Sobhi
He also left a daughter Smt
Jai Kaur from his other wife
On February 3 1958 Smt
Sobhi sold 73 kanals 14 marlas of land to the appellants the sale consideration mentioned in the sale deed being Rs 8000 
Jai Kaur filed a suit for possession by pre emption of the land which had been sold by Smt
Sobhi
According to her a consideration of Rs 4000 only had been paid by the vendee
The trial court decreed the suit in May 1959 granting a decree for possession on payment of Rs 6500 together with costs
The second Additional Judge to whom an appeal was taken dismissed it
In the High Court the learned Single Judge took the view that Smt
Jai Kaur not being the daughter of the vendor Smt
Sobhi had no right of pre emption under section 152 of the Punjab Pre emption Act 1913 as amended by the Punjab Pre emption Amendment Act 1960
The suit was dismissed
Jai Kaur filed an appeal under clause 10 of the Letters Patent of the High Court
Relying on an amendment made by the Punjab Pre emption Amendment Act 1964 in the first paragraph of clause b of sub section
2 of section 15 of the Punjab Pre emption Act hereinafter called the Act the Division Bench reversed the judgment of the Single Judge and decreed the plaintiff s suit
The relevant provisions of the statute may now be noticed together with the amendments made in 1960 and 1964
Section 15 of the Act was substituted by section 4 of the Amendment Act 1960
According to the substituted section the right of pre emption in respect of agricultural land and village immovable property shall vest thus  1 2 Notwithstanding anything contained in sub section 1 a where the sale is by a female of land or property to which she has succeeded through her father or brother or the sale in respect of such land or property is by the scan or daughter of 805 such female after inheritance the fight of preemption shall vest i if the sale is by such female in her brother or brother s son ii if the sale is by the son or daughter of such female in the mother s brother or the mother s brother s sons of the vendor or vendors By the Amendment Act 1964 in the first paragraph of section 152 b between the words such and female the words husband of the were inserted
The result was that after the amendment the portion of clause b relevant for our purpose was to read as follows FIRST in the son or daughter of such husband of the female
 Now if the Amendment Act of 1964 could be regarded as having retrospective operation so as to affect pending proceedings there can be no dispute that the judgment of the division bench was light and must be affirmed
The contention which has been raised on behalf of the appellants is that
there is no indication in the Amendment Act of 1964 that it was to have retrospective operation and therefore the amendment made by it should be deemed to be only prospective
It may be mentioned that by section 6 of the Amendment Act of 1960 a new section 31 was inserted in the Act
That section provided no court shall pass a decree in a suit for pre emption whether instituted before or after the commencement of the Punjab Pre emption Amendment Act of 1960 which is inconsistent with the provisions of the said Act in Ram Sarup vs Munshi  Ors1 this Court held that the language used in section 31 was comprehensive enough so as to require an appellate court to give effect to the substantive provisions of the Amending Act whether the appeal before it was one against a decree granting pre emption or one refusing that relief
Although section 31 was inserted in the Act for all times the phraseology employed therein does not show that its language was meant to cover those amendments which would be made subsequent to the Amendment Act of 1960
The word said can have reference in the context only to the enactment of 1960 and to no other
it would not be legitimate for the courts to give an extended effect to a provision used and words employed warranted such a course being followed
That does not appear to be the case here
It appears to us that the Amendment Act of 1964 was merely of a clarificatory or declaratory nature
Even in the absence of the words which were inserted by the Amendment Act of 1964 in section 152b the only possible interpretation and meaning of 1  806 the words in the son or daughter of such female could have reference to and cover the sort or daughter of the husband of the female
The entire scheme of sub section
2 of section 15 is that the right of pre emption has been confined to the issues of the last male holder from whom the property which has been sold came by inheritance
Looking at clause a of sub section
2 where the properly which has been sold has come to the female from her father or brother by succession the right of pre emption has been given to
her brother or brother s son
As has been observed in Mota Singh vs Prem Parkash Kaur  Ors1 the predominant idea seems to be that the property must not go outside the line of the last male holder and the right has been given to his male linea descendants
Where the sale is by the son or the daughter of such female the right is given to the mother s brother or their sons
The principle which has been kept in view is that the person on whom the right of pre emption is conferred must be a male lineal descendant of the last male holder of the property sold
This is so with regard to clause a of sub section
Coming to clause b where the sale is by a female of land or property to which she has succeeded through her husband or through her son in case the son has inherited the same from his father the right of pre emption is to vest firstly in the son or daughter of such female and secondly in the husband s brother or husband s brother s son of such female
Now if the son or daughter of the female who has sold the property could refer to her son or daughter from a husband other than the one from whom the property devolved on her it would be contrary to the scheme and purpose of sub section
2 which essentially is to vest the right of pre emption in the lineal descendants of the last male holder
Similarly it is unthinkable that a husband s brother or husband s brother s son should have reference to a husband to whom the property never belonged
In other words it could never be intended that if a female has had a previous husband who has either died or with whom the marriage has been dissolved and the female has remarried and succeeded to the property of her second husband the brother or the brother s son of her previous husband should be able to claim the right of pre emption when they had nothing whatsoever to do with the property sought to be preempted
It would follow that under clause b the right of preemption would vest firstly in the son or daughter of the husband of the female meaning thereby either her own off spring from the husband whom she has succeeded or the son or daughter of that husband even from another wife
If the above discussion is kept in view there is no difficulty in attributing a retroactive intention to the legislature when the Amendment Act of 1964 was enacted
It is well settled that if a 1 IER 1961 Punj
807 statute is curative or merely declares the previous law retroactive operation would be more rightly ascribed to it than the legislation which may prejudicially affect past rights and transactions
We are in entire agreement with the following view expressed in a recent full bench decision of the Punjab High Court in Moti Ram vs Bakhwant Singh  Ors
1 in which a similar point came up for consideration A close analysis of paragraphs First and Secondly of clause b of sub section 2 of section 15 before the amendment introduced by Punjab Act 13 of 1964 would demonstrate that a son of the husband of a female vendor though not born from her womb would be entitled to preempt particularly when the husband s brother and even the son of the husband s brother of that female are accorded the right of preemption
To reiterate the right of preemption is accorded manifestly on the principle of consanguinity the property of the female vendor being that of her husband and there is no reason why the step son should be excluded and the nephew of the husband included
From this alone it must be inferred that the Legislature had intended to include a step son and consequently retrospective operation had to be given to the amending Act as such a construction appears to be in consonance and harmony with the purpose of the Act
The result therefore is that the respondent was entitled to
exercise her right of preemption under paragraph First of cl
b of sub section
2 of section 15 even before the amendment made in 1964
At any rate whatever doubts existed they were removed by the Amendment Act of 1964 which must be given retrospective operation
The appeal consequently fails and it is dismissed with coats
RKPS Appeal dismissed 1 ILR19681 Punjab 104 120


Summary:
S the owner of some land in a village in Punjab died leaving a widow and the respondent his daughter by another wife
The widow sold a part of the land in February 1958 to the appellants whereupon the respondent filed a suit for possession by pre emption of the land sold
The trial court decreed the suit and a first appeal was dismissed
A single bench of the High Court allowed the second appeal on the view that the respondent not being the widow s daughter had no right of pre emption under section 152 of the Punjab Pre emption Act 1913 as amended by the Punjab Pre emption Amendment Act 1960
However a division bench in a Letters Patent appeal relying on an amendment made by the PUnjab Preemption Amendment Act 1964 in section 152b reversed the judgment of the single bench and decreed the suit
It was contended in appeal to this Court that there is no indication in the Amendment Act of 1964 that it is to have retrospective operation and the amendment made by it should be deemed to be only prospective
HELD The Amendment Act of 1964 was merely of a clarificatory or declaratory nature
Even in the absence of words which were inserted by the Amendment Act of 1964 under section 152b the only possible interpretation and meaning of the words in the son or daughter of such female could have reference to and cover the son or daughter of the husband of the female
The entire scheme of section 152 is that the right of pre emption has been confined to the issues of the last male holder from whom the property which has been sold came by inheritance
805 H Under section 152b the right of pre emption would vest firstly in the son or daughter of the husband of the female meaning thereby either her own off springs from the husband whom she had succeeded or the son or daughter of that husband even from another wife
806 G In the present case the respondent was entitled to exercise her right of pre emption under paragraph First of clause b of section 152 even before the Amendment of 1964
Whatever doubts existed they were removed by that Act which must be given retrospective operation
807 E F Ram Sarup vs Munshi  Ors  and Mota Singh vs Prem Parkash Kaur  Ors ILR 1961 Punj
614 627 referred to