Appeal No 110 of 1960
Appeal by special leave from the judgment and decree dated April 13 1956 of the former Nagpur High Court in FA No 99 of 1947
Naunit lal for the appellants
B A Masodkar B D Najbile and Ganpat Rai for the respondents
September 12
The judgment of the Court was delivered by GAJENDRAGADKAR J
This appeal by special leave raises a short question about the construction of section 149 2 of the C P Land Revenue Act 1917 No II of 1917 hereinafter called the Act
The validity of a revenue sale of their properties held on February 27 1941 under section 128f of the Act was challenged by the appellants by their suit 30 
filed in the Court of the Additional judge Nagpur on November 12 1946
Ganpatrao Vishwanathji Deshmukh who had purchased the properties at the said auction sale was impleaded as defendant No 1 to the said suit
During the pendency of the litigation the said Ganpatrao has died and his heirs have been brought on the record
They will be referred to as respondent No 1 in the course of this judgment
The appellants challenged the impugned sale on five different grounds
They alleged that the sale was without jurisdiction that as the final bid was not accepted by the Dy
Commissioner it was invalid that as the sale was brought about fraudulently by respondent No 1 in collusion with the Revenue Clerk it was invalid that as the Commissioner was not competent to confirm the sale on November 13 1945 it was invalid and that the sale could not be held validly for the recovery of Rs 13549 which was shown in the proclamation of sale as the arrear for which the property was put to sale
The trial court rejected all the contentions raised by the appellants in impeaching the validity of the sale and so the relief claimed by the appellants against respondent No 1 by way of injunction restraining him from recovering possession of the property and disturbing the appellants  possession thereof was rejected
The appellants then preferred an appeal in the Nagpur High Court
The High Court has confirmed the findings of the trial court and accordingly the appeal has been dismissed
It is against this decree that the appellants have come to this Court by special leave and the only point which has been raised on their behalf by Mr Naunit Lal is that the view taken by the courts below that the impugned sale could not be effectively challenged by the appellants under s149 2 is not justified on a fair and reasonable construction of the said provisions
The material facts leading to this point are very few and they are not in dispute
The appellants are Lambardars of Mahal No 2 of Mouza Gujarkhedi 31 Tehsil Saoner District Nagpur and they held therein an undivided interest of As
11 
On or about October 4 1940 they were found to be in arrears of land revenue to the extent of Rs 73013 in respect of the suspended Rabi kist of 1938 39 and the Rabi kist of 1939 40
The Tehsildar of Saoner made a report on October 4 1940 to the Dy
Commissioner that the said arrears were due from the appellants and asked for sanction to sell by auction the property in suit Along with this report a draft of the sale proclamation containing the relevant details was also submitted for the signature of the SDO in case the Dy
Commissioner sanctioned the sale
The SDO forwarded the said report to the Dy
Commissioner who accorded sanction to the proposal of the Tehsildar on December 17 1940
Thereafter on December 23 1940
the SDO signed the said proclamation and on getting the said documents back the Tehsildar ordered on January 7 1941 that the sale proclamation should be published and that the sale should be held on February 26 1941
On that date the sale was adjourned to February 27 1941 for want of adequate bids
On the next day the sale was held and the property was sold to respondent No 1 for Rs 600 
Ultimately the said sale was confirmed
It is common ground that though at the relevant time arrears due from the appellants amounted only to Rs 73013  in the Parchanama the said amount was shown as Rs 13549 and the property in fact was sold to recover the said amount of arrears under section 128f of the Act
The appellants  contention is that the arrear Rs 13549  for which his property has been sold under section 128f was not due what was due was the lesser amount of Rs 73013 and so the sale in question is invalid under section 149 2 of the Act
In dealing with this point it is necessary to refer to the relevant provisions of the Act
Chapter X of the Act deals with the collection of land revenue and it consists of sections 122 to 160
Section 124 32 confers power on the State Government to regulate payment of sums payable under the Act and provides for the number and amount of the instalments and the time place and manner of payment of any sum payable under a settlement or sub settlement or otherwise under an assessment made under this Act
Sub section 2 of section 124 requires that unless the State Government otherwise directs all such payments shall be made as prescribed under sub section
A notice of demand can be issued by Tehsildar or Naib Tehsildar under section 127 and it may be served on any defaulter before the issue of any process under section 128 for the recovery of an arrear
Section 128 provides for the process for recovery of an arrear and it prescribes that an arrear payable to Government may be recovered inter alia f by selling such estate mahal or land or the share or land of any co sharer who has not paid the portion of the land revenue which as between him and the other co sharers is payable by him
Section 131 prescribes the procedure for attachment and sale of movables and attachment of immovable property
Then section 132 provides for holding enquiry into claims of third persons in respect of property attached or proceeded against
Section 138 1 provides that the purchaser of any estate mahal share or land sold for arrears of land revenue due in respect thereof shall acquire it free of all encumbrances imposed on it and all grants and contracts
made in respect of it by any person other than the purchaser
Sub sections 2 3 and 4 make other provisions but it is unnecessary to refer to them
Section 143 lays down that if the arrear in respect of which the property is to be sold is paid at any time before the lot is knocked down the sale shall be stayed
Section 145 provides for application to set aside sale on deposit of arrear and section 146 provides for application to set aside sale for irregularity
Under section 148 it is provided that on the expiry of 30 days from the date of sale if no application has been made under section 145 or 146 or no claim has been made under section 151 or if 33 such application or claim has been made
and rejected the Dy
Commissioner shall pass an order confirming the sale
Section 151 refers to claims of pre emptions
That takes us to section 149
Section reads as follows  1 if no application under section 146 is made within the time allowed therefor all claims on the grounds of irregularity or mistake shall be barred
2 Nothing in sub section 1 shall bar the institution of a suit in the Civil Court to set aside a sale on the ground of fraud or on the ground that the arrear for which the property is sold is not due
 It would thus be seen that the scheme of the relevant provisions of the Act in relation to revenue sales appears to be self contained
The revenue process for recovering arrears begins with the report as to the arrears and ends with the confirmation of sale
Provision is made for the examination of claims of third parties as well as for setting aside sales on account of deposit or on account of irregularities committed in conducting the sales
 It is in the light of this self contained scheme that section 149 1 provides that if no application under section 146 is made within the time prescribed all claims on the grounds of irregularity or mistake shall be barred
In other
words 
the effect of this provision is that if a party aggrieved by a revenue sale of his property wants to challenge the validity of the said sale on grounds of irregularity or mistake the Act has provided a remedy for him by s146 and it he fails to avail himself of that remedy it would not be open to him to challenge the impugned sale on the said grounds by a separate suit
The grounds of irregularity or mistake must be urged by an application made under section 146 and if no such application is made then the party is precluded from taking the said grounds otherwise
Thus far there is no difficulty or dispute
34 Sub section 2 of section 149 provides an exception to sections 1 and it says that the institution of a suit would not be barred in a Civil Court to set aside a sale on two grounds if the sale is challenged on the ground of fraud a suit will lie similarly if a sale is challenged on the ground that the arrear for which the property is sold is not due a suit will lie
The effect of this provision is that if fraud is proved in regard to a revenue sale a suit will lie and the sale will be set aside similarly if it is shown that the arrear for which the property is sold was not due a suit will lie and the sale will be set aside
There is no difficulty or dispute about this position also
The question on which the parties are at issue before us is in regard to the interpretation of the clause the arrear for which the property is sold
 It has been held by the High Court that what this clause requires is not that the arrear for which the property is sold should be stated with meticulous accuracy if a mistake is made in showing the actual amount of arrear due from the defaulter for which the property is sold that mistake would not render the sale invalid it would be a mistake within the meaning of ss1 and so to cases of that kind sub section 2 will not apply
On the other hand Mr Naunit Lal contends that the clause the arrear for which the property is sold is plain and unambiguous
In considering the question as to whether this clause is attracted or not one has to look at the proclamation of sale and enquire whether the amount shown as arrears due from the defaulter was in fact due or not
If the said amount was not due the clause will apply notwithstanding the fact that a lesser amount may have been due from the said defaulter
In construing section 1492 it is relevant to remember that the provision in question is made in relation to revenue sales and there is no doubt that the revenue sales are authorised to be held under the summary procedure prescribed by the relevant sections of the 35 Act and so it would not be unreasonable to construe these provisions strictly
That is why we are not inclined to accept the view that in interpreting the relevant clause we should assume that the Legislature did not expect the authorities to specify the arrear for which the property is sold with meticulous care
If the defaulter s property is being sold under revenue sale and the object of issuing the proclamation is to show for what arrear it is being sold it is we think fair to assume that the said arrear must be stated with absolute accuracy
It would not be enough to say that some arrear was due and so the sale should be upheld though it was purported to be held for recovery of a much larger arrear
Nor is this consideration purely academic
As we have seen section 143 provides that if the arrear in respect of which the property is to be sold is paid before the lot is knocked down the sale shall be stayed
In the present case if the arrear had been properly shown at Rs 730113  it is theoretically possible that the appellants may have been in a position to deposit this amount before the lot was knocked down and the sale would have been stayed
Since the arrear was shown to be much larger it is theoretically possible that the appellants could not make a successful attempt to deposit the said amount
Now in working out the provisions of section 143 there should be no difficulty in determining the amount which the defaulter has to deposit to avoid the revenue sale
The arrear in question must be correctly stated in the proclamation so that everybody concerned knows the exact amount for which the revenue sale is held
That is another consideration which supports the construction for which the appellants contend
Mr Masodkar for respondent No 1 argued that the construction for which the appellants contend is mechanical and it may lead to anomalies
In support of this argument he took the illustration of a case where the amount of arrears is accurately shown in the proclamation but after the proclamation is 36 issued a part of it is paid by the defaulter as in fact Rs 291 were deposited by the appellants in the present case the contention is that in such a case if the original amount of arrears continues to be shown in the proclamation the sale would be invalid on the construction suggested by the appellants
We are not impressed by this argument
Our attention has not been drawn to any specific provision of the Act under which a partial payment of the arrear due is allowed lo be made by the defaulter
If such a payment is made it may at best be treated as deposited on account and no deduction would be made from the arrear notified to be due from him in the proclamation at that stage
The only provision which has been cited before us in that behalf is section 143 and section 143 expressly provides for the payment of the whole of the arrear due and lays down that on such payment before the lot is knocked down the sale shall be stayed
Therefore the complication sought to be introduced by Mr Masodkar by taking a hypothetical case of a part payment of the arrears due from the defaulter does not affect the construction of section 1492
It is then argued that the impugned sale cannot be said to be irregular in the present case because on the date when it was actually held the amount of Rs 1354 9 was in fact due from the appellants as arrears
It is common ground that after the proclamation was issued a further amount of arrears became due from the appellants and on the date of the sale the total amount came to be Rs 13549 
In our opinion arrears accumulating
after an order for sale has been passed and the proclamation in that behalf has been issued cannot come into the calculation while construing s149 2
Every arrear for which the sale is ordered must be specifically dealt with as provided by the Act
It is not open to the authorities to deal with a specific arrear as prescribed by the Act and to pass an order for sale of the defaulter s property on the 37 basis of that arrear and then add to it subsequently accruing arrears without following the procedure prescribed in that behalf
Once the amount of arrear is determined and sale is ordered by reference to it it is that amount which must be shown in the proclamation and it is for that amount of arrear for which the property must be sold
That in our opinion is clearly the effect of the relevant clause in section 149 2
We must therefore hold that the High Court was in error in coming to the conclusion that the sale of the appellants  property on the 27th February 1941 was valid
We are satisfied that the arrear for which the appellants  property was sold was not due within the meaning of s149 2 and so the sale must be set aside
In support of his argument that the impugned sale cannot be held to be invalid Mr Masodkar relied on a decision of the Privy Council in Rewa Mahton vs Ram Kishen Singh1
In that case the Privy Council was dealing with a question which had reference to the true construction of section 246 of the Civil Procedure Code of 1877 Act X of 1877
The said section had provided that if cross decrees between the same parties and for the payment of money be produced in the Court execution shall be taken out only by the party who holds the decree for the larger sum and for so much only as remains after deducting the smaller sum
It appears that contrary to the provisions of this section an auction sale was held and when the title of the auction purchaser was challenged it became necessary to consider that the effect of noncompliance with the provisions of section 246 would be on the title of the auction purchaser
The Privy Council held that a purchaser under a sale in execution is not bound to inquire whether the judgment debtor had a cross judgment of a higher amount such as would have rendered the order for execution incorrect
If the Court has jurisdiction such purchaser is no more bound to inquire into the correctness of an 1 1886 L R 13 I A 106
38 order for execution than he is as to the correctness of the judgment upon which execution issues
In other words the effect of this decision is that if in contravention of the provisions of section 246 an executing Court orders a sale to be held the auction purchaser gets a good title notwithstanding non compliance with section 246
We do not see how this case can assist Mr Masodkar in the present appeal
The decision turned upon the construction of section 246
But the present dispute has to be decided on a construction of section 149 2
It is wellknown that execution sales held under the Code of Civil Procedure can be challenged only in the manner prescribed and for the reasons specified say for instance by O XXI r 89 90 and 91
The fact that certain irregularities committed during the conduct of execution sales would not render the sales invalid flows from the relevant provisions of the Code and so it would not be reasonable to invoke the assistance of the decisions dealing with irregularities committed in execution sales in support of the argument that a revenue sale held under section 128 f should be judged by the same principles
The question as to whether the revenue sale is valid or not must obviously be determined in the light of the relevant provisions of the Act and that again takes us to the construction of section 149 2
Mr Masodkar had also relied on the decision of the Calcutta High Court in Ram Prosad Choudhury vs Ram Jadu Lahiri 1in support of his argument that a revenue sale held under section 128 f of the Act would not be rendered invalid merely because the amount of arrears shown in the proclamation is not accurate
In the case of Ram Prosad Choudhury the sale had been held under the provisions of the Bengal Land Revenue Sales Act Act XI of 1859
Under section 5 of the said Act notice had to be issued before the sale could be held
In the notice
issued prior to the sale had been shown a sum which had then not become due as an arrear along with other sums 1 39 which had become arrears and the subsequent sale was held on the footing of the total amount thus shown being the arrears due
It was urged that the sale was invalid because of the irregularity committed in the issue of the notice under section 5
This argument was rejected and it was held that despite the said irregularity the sale was valid
Now in appreciating the effect of this decision  it is necessary to refer to the provisions of section 33 of the said Act under which the sale was challenged
We have already referred to the fact that section 5 required a notice to be issued prior to the sale
The notice provided for by this section had to specify the nature and amount of arrear or demand and the latest date on which payment thereof shall be received
Section 33 provides that no sale for arrears of revenue shall be annulled except upon the ground of its having been made contrary to the provisions of this Act and then only on proof that the plaintiff has sustained substantial injury by reason of the irregularity complained of  with the rest of the section we are not concerned
The argument which was urged in the case of Ram Prosad Choudhury was that the notice under section 5 having been irregularly issued the sale should be deemed to have been held contrary to the provisions of the said Act and this argument was not accepted
It would be noticed that section 33 justifies a claim for annulling the sale only if two conditions are satisfied that the sale should have been made contrary to the provisions of the Act and that the plaintiff must show that he has sustained substantial injury by reason of the irregularity complained of
It is in the context of these requirements that the Calcutta High Court held that the inclusion of an amount in the notice which had not become an arrear on the date of the notice did not render the impugned sale invalid
We do not think that this decision can assist us in interpreting section 149 2 with which we are concerned
The scope and effect of the relevant provisions of section 1492 are not at all similar to the scope and effect of 40 s33 of the Bengal Act
Therefore we are not inclined to accept Mr Masodkar s argument that the defect in the sale on which the appellants rely would not render the sale invalid
The result is the appeal is allowed the decree passed by the High Court is set aside and the appellants  suit decreed There would be no order as to cost throughout
Appeal allowed


Summary:
The appellants are Lambardars of Mahal No2 of Mouza Gujarkhedi and they held therein an undivided share of As
II  and as they were found in arrears of land revenue to the extent of Rs 73013  the property was sold for Rs 600 but the sale proclamation recited the amount of arrears due as Rs 1345 9 0 and that the properties were being sold for 29 recovering that amount
It was contended by the appellants that it was open to them to have the sale set aside in the Civil Court on the ground that the arrear for which the property was sold was not due
The trial court dismissed the suit on the ground that the suit did not lie and the High Court affirmed the decision
Held that section 149 2 of the Act was plain and unambiguous and that if the arrear in respect of which the sale was held was not due it gave a right to the owner of the property to have the sale set aside in a Civil Court
The fact that subsequent to the sale proclamation but on the date of the sale further amounts towards land revenue had become due was not material the scheme of the Act being that in respect of each specific arrear separate proceedings had to be taken
Held further that mistakes and irregularities contemplated by the Act which would not furnish grounds for invalidating and setting aside the sale were of a different kind and from the scheme of the Act it is clear that a sale for an arrear that was not due was put in a separate category
Rewa Mahten vs Ram Kishan Singh 1886 LR 13 IA 106 and Ram Prosad Choudhury vs Ram Jadu Lahiri 1936 40 CWN 1054 distinguished