' SAAD SAOOD JAN, J.---This is a petition for special leave to appeal from the judgment, dated 17-3- 1991 of the Lahore High Court whereby the regular first appeal preferred by the respondents was accepted and the suit of the petitioners for pre-emption was dismissed.
2. Dr. Mian Ahmad Nawaz and Mst. Shamim Shah Nawaz were owners of about 2,235 Kanals of land in Chak No,244/T.D.A., District Leiah. By an oral transaction they sold the Said land to the respondents. The sale was affirmed through a consent decree passed by a Civil Court on 7-10-1974.
The petitioners filed a suit for pre-emption basing their superior right, inter alia, on the assertion that they were owners in the estate. The suit was decreed by the trial Court where upon the respondents filed an appeal in the High Court. A Division Bench re-appraised the evidence and came to the conclusion that the petitioners were not owners in the estate. Accordingly, it accepted the appeal, set aside the judgment and decree of the trial Court, and dismissed the suit. The petitioners now seek leave to appeal from this Court.
3. The land in dispute is situate in Chak No, 244/T.b.A. Admittedly, this Chak was at one time part of village Fatehpur. It is not disputed that the petitioners were owners in estate in Fatehpur, though none in Chak No,244/T.D.A.
4. The only question for consideration in this petition is whether Chak No,244/T.DA. Was a separate and independent revenue estate at the time of the sale. The expression "estate" has been defined in section 4(9), Land Revenue Act,1967 to mean any area:---
(i) for which a separate record-of-rights has been made; or
(ii) which has been separately assessed to land revenue; or
(iii) which the Board of Revenue may, by general rule or special order, declare to be an estate; There is no direct evidence that Chak No, 244/T.D.A. Falls under any of these sub-clauses, although, there is a notification by the Board of Revenue whereby a direction was given for the preparation of a separate Revenue Record for the Chak. On the other hand, there is the statement of the local Patwari (D.W.1) which indicates that the said Chak was still a part of the revenue estate of Fatehpur.
In the circumstances, the finding of the High Court that the: said Chak was no longer a part of the Fatehpur revenue estate needs examination. Leave to appeal is granted. Security for costs Rs,5,000.