' The land in dispute allotted to the respondent in respect of which the petitioners secured an agreement to sell as admittedly State land to which the Colonization of Government Lands (Punjab) Act (V of 1912) applied.
2. According to section 19 of the Act none of the rights or interests vested in a tenant by this Act shall without consent in writing of the Commissioner or of such officer as he may by written order empower in this behalf, be transferred or charged by any sale, exchange, gift, will, mortgage or other private contract other than a sub-lease for more than one year. It further provides that any such transfer or charge made without such consent in writing shall be void, and if the transferee has obtained possession, he shall be ejected under the order of the Collector.
3. In spite of the fact that the agreement to sell relied upon by the petitioner did not have the effect of transferring to them any ownership in the property, and ordinarily it was saved from being hit by the provisions of section 19 of the Act, even then the respondent could not by a private contract transfer to the petitioners his interest to possess the land. Any such stipulation without the consent in writing of Collector was thus void and could not be acted upon. The petitioners, therefore, could not as of right urge in their suit that their possession, taken under the contract of sale, could not be interfered with. The learned Courts below were justified in dismissing the petitioners' suit for declaration of ownership and for perpetual injunction restraining the respondent from interfering with their possession. There is no force in the revision petition and the same is dismissed in limine.