' This revision petition has been directed against the order dated 11-2-1978 of Additional Commissioner, Bahawalpur by which he upheld in appeal the order dated 30-8-1977 of Deputy Commissioner Collector, Bahawalnagar, refusing to execute a deed of conveyance in favour of the petitioners of State land obtained by them in exchange of their proprietary land from the legal heirs of Taj Din, a grantee under Bahawalpur Abadkari Scheme, 1958.
2. Briefly, the State land comprising 200 kanals situated in Chak No, 177/7-R, Tehsil Fort Abbas was granted to Taj Din under Bahawalpur Division Abadkari Scheme, 1958. Taj Din died and the tenancy devolved on his legal heirs, namely, his widow Mst. Rasul Bibi, his son Rashid Ahmad and daughters Haideri Bibi and Razia Begum. Mst. Haideri Bibi transferred her share measuring 43 kanals, 15 marlas in favour of her sons Sharafat Hussain and Sabir Hussain vide Mutation No, 199 dated 14-4- 1976, while remaining part of the land measuring 156 kanals 5 marlas was exchanged by other heirs with the proprietary land of the petitioner through mutation No, 201 dated 29-6-1976. As the purchase price of the State land had already been paid in full, the petitioners applied to the Collector for the grant of deed of conveyance of the said land in their favour. The Collector, however, rejected their request by his order dated 30-8-1977 on the ground that since the grantee had not executed any deed of conveyance granting to him proprietary rights in the land which was still held in tenancy, therefore ; could not be exchanged without obtaining prior sanction of the competent authority under section 19 of the Colonization of Government (Lands) Punjab Act, 1912.
Feeling aggrieved by this order the petitioners filed an appeal before the Additional Commissioner, which was rejected vide order dated 11-2-1978. Hence this revision petition.
3. The main argument advanced by the learned counsel for the petitioners is that on deposit of proprietary dues in the Government treasury the grantee became full owner of the land and thus ceased to be governed by the provisions of the Colonization of Government (Lands) Punjab Act, 1912, remaining no longer under any obligation to execute a deed of conveyance of the said land or to obtain any sanction under section 19 for the exchange thereof. Reliance in this regard was placed on PLD 1956 Lah. 94, PLD 1956 Lah. 609 and PLD 1958 W P (Rev.) 77.
4. I am afraid I cannot subscribe to this argument. The execution of a deed of conveyance in the prescribed form and ifs registration by the grantee at his own cost are legal requirements which remain to be fulfilled even after payment for proprietary rights. A perusal of section 15 of the Colonization Act, will make it quite clear that a purchaser of land from Government shall be deemed to be a 'tenant' of such land until he has paid full amount of the purchase money with any interest due thereon and has complied with the other conditions set forth in the Statement of Conditions of sale issued by the Collector. In other words a tenant of Government land has to fulfil two conditions before he acquires proprietary rights in the land, firstly that the purchase-money with interest due has been paid in full and secondly, that other conditions set forth in the Statements of Conditions for sale have been fulfilled. In the instant case though purchase-money had been paid in full but one of the other essential condition as contained in clause No, 12 of the Statement of Conditions dated 25-6-1958 requiring of the tenant to have a deed of conveyance executed, stamped and registered at his own expense had not been fulfilled. This Condition reads as under :- "12. Any tenant who has complied with all the conditions of the grant to the satisfaction of the Collector and has duly paid all sums due from him to Government under these conditions, including the payment of purchase price of the land in full, shall be entitled to receive from Government a grant of proprietary rights in the land in such form as may be prescribed, the deed being executed, stamped and registered by Collector at the expense of the tenant : ' Provided that the Collector may withhold grant of proprietary rights: (i)to a tenant, if, keeping in view the state of crime in the tenancy, the Collector is of the opinion that grant of proprietary rights to the tenant is undesirable ;
(ii) to tenants in an estate -
(x) (x) if the Collector has reason to believe that the residents of the estate have wilfully caused the breach of the canal or distributary in the estate ; and
(y) if the Collector, for reasons to be recorded in writing is of the opinion that--
(a) there have been in the estate gross or repeated encroachments on the state land, charagah, unallotted village sites and public roads or thoroughfares ;
(b) the condition of the estate is grossly insanitary ; and
(c) there has been persistent neglect of arboriculture in the village site. Explanation.(i) For the purpose of this clause the existence of a burrow pit within the compound of a house, or a heap of manure within a village, or a tank in a place other than a place indicated for the purpose of a tank by competent authority, shall be presumptive proof that the estate concerned is in a grossly insanitary condition.
(ii) The withholding, referred to above may be temporary or permanent."
5. This will show that proprietary rights are transferred only after the tenant has paid the entire purchase price of the land and fulfilled all other conditions of his grant to the satisfaction of the Collector and has also executed a conveyance deed in the prescribed form and got it registered at his own expense. Even after fulfilment of these conditions the Collector has the power to withhold proprietary rights under certain circumstances. Clause 20 of the General Colony Conditions published under Punjab Government Notification No, 5782-C dated 29th June, 1938, as amended from time to time, lays down that if the conditions of any grant provide for the execution of a deed, which requires registration, the deed shall be presented for registration by the grantee as soon as may be after the execution thereof.
6. Also at the time of receiving a grant of State land for agriculture, every tenant grantee is required to execute a sale agreement in the form prescribed at pages 192-199 of the Colony Manual, Volume II (1966 Edition) binding himself to abide by the conditions set out therein. Clause 4 (e) of this agreement says that "on the payment of purchase money, the granted shall be entitled to receive from Government a deed of conveyance of the said land in the form given in Schedule 'B'
(pages 200-205) granting to him by way of conveyance the said land in proprietary right subject to all term and conditions set forth in the said deed. The grantee shall pay such stain duty on the said deed as is leviable on conveyance under the provisions of the Stamp Act, and when it is duly executed the grantee shall have I registered at his own expense within the period to be specified by the Collector" sub-clause (g) provides that "the grantee shall purchase the stamp and within four months from the date of execution shall present this instrument for registration at his own costs failing which, without prejudice to Government's rights otherwise, such future shall be regarded as a breach of the conditions thereof".
7. Again, under para. 155-A of the Punjab Colony Manual, Volume I (1933 Edition), it has been provided that "on the completion of purchase, an instrument containing the grant by way of conveyance is executed, whereupon the parties cease to be governed by any conditions incompatible with those actually incorporated in that instrument". From this it follows that it is only after the completion of purchase and execution of the deed of conveyance that proprietary rights are transferred and the parties cease to be governed by the provisions of the Act, barring of course the conditions as actually incorporated in the instrument itself.
8. As for the instrument i. e. The deed of conveyance, it has been issued under section 10(2) of the Colonization of Government (Lands) Act, 1912, and therefore the conditions contained therein will have the force of law and take effect, in view of section 3 of the Government Grants Act, 1895, according to their tenor notwithstanding any rule or law, statute or enactment of the Legislature to the contrary. Clause (a) of the deed of conveyance contemplates that the grant of land shall be subject to the provisions of the Colonization Act, 1922, so far as they are applicable and the grantee shall be deemed to be &tenant' of such land until and unless he has fulfilled the terms and conditions of his grant. As the execution and registration of the instrument is one of the essential condition contained in clause 12 of the deed of conveyance, therefore, until and unless the grantee has fulfilled this condition as well, he will be deemed to be a 'tenant' of the land even though he has fulfilled the remaining conditions of his grant including the payment of proprietary dues.
9. There is thus nothing in the above rules and Statement of Conditions saying that on mere deposit of purchase money proprietary title would stand automatically transferred to the grantee and he would be absolved of his obligation to complete the purchase by executing the deed of conveyance and having it stamped and registered at his own expense in accordance with the conditions of his grant. On the other hand it has been clearly laid down in der section 15, the relevant rules and various statements of conditions the grantee of State land will not acquire proprietary tights automatically on the payment of proprietary dues and will continue to be a tenant of such land until and unless he has fulfilled all the other conditions including the condition of executing a deed of conveyance in the prescribed manner as set out in the statement of conations applicable to his grant and the sale agreement made between him and the Government at the time of granting the land.
10. The Authorities relied upon by the learned counsel have been examined in depth by their Lordships Anwarul Haq and Muhammad Afzal Cheema, JJ. In a similar case reported as PLD. 1967 Lab, 52 and have found them to be quite disguisable, having no bearing whatsoever on a case where the point of non-fulfilment of conditions was not at issue. While discussing these authorities in the above cited case, their Lordships were pleased to observe that "unlike the instant case, the fulfilment of the terms and conditions of sale were never challenged in these authorities which is the pivotal point here". Moreover, the question that fell for determination in these authorities was whether in the estate devolved on a widow under section 30-A of the Colonization Act, the acquisition of proprietary rights had taken effect from the date on which the payment and the order for transfer of the rights to her were made, or on the later date on which the deed was executed and registered. No contention was, however, raised before their Lordships that the widow had failed to fulfil any of the necessary conditions. Contrarily in the present case although the purchase money had been paid in full the other essential conditions applicable to the grant remained unfulfilled and therefore the rule propounded . In the above-cited authorities cannot competently be applied here.
11. Assuming, however, that the application of these authorities was attract in the present case and in consequence proprietary rights stood acquired on the payment of purchase price, even then the acquisition of such rights could be called in question on the ground of ineligibility of the grantee to acquire them without fulfilment of the condition of obtaining a deed of conveyance in the prescribed form, in view of subsection (2) of section 30 of the Colonization of Government Lands Act, 1912. This subsection which has been newly inserted by Punjab Ordinance No, XII of 1978 empowers the Board of Revenue to resume the land in respect of which proprietary rights have been acquired by any person by means of fraud or misrepresentation or in which he was not eligible to have such rights for any reason whatsoever.
12. In view of what has been stated above, I am inclined to hold that a grantee of the State land would not acquire proprietary rights automatic on the payment of purchase price and would be deemed to be a tenant of State land in terms of section 15 until and unless he has fulfilled the other conditions applicable to his grant to the satisfaction of the Collector and has received from him a deed of conveyance in the prescribed form and got it stamped and registered at his own expense.
13. As in the present case also proprietary rights had not been acquired by execution of a conveyance deed, therefore the grantee and his legal heirs would be deemed to be the tenants of the land and would not be entitled to exchange the said land with the proprietary land of the petitioners during the continuance of their tenancy without prior sanction of the competent authority under section 19. In these circumstances the District Collector was fully justified to withhold the grant of conveyance deed of the land in favour of the petitioners. As, however, proprietary dues in this case have been paid in full. I think it will meet the ends of justice if the legal heirs of the original grantee may now be allowed by the Collector to receive the conveyance deed in their favour provided they have fulfilled the other conditions of the grant, and thereafter they would be free to deal with the land as they liked. Subject to these observations the revision petition is rejected.