(1.) This is the plaintiff's second appeal arising out of a suit for pre-emption. The plaintiff is the owner of a mahal in a village in which the defendant vendee purchased 20 kanals and 7 marlas of agricultural land by means of a sale deed dated 10th Chet 1995. The plaintiff asserted that he had a preferential right over the vendee.
(2.) On behalf of the vendee the superiority of the plaintiff's right was denied and it was pleaded that the vendee had an equal right because of his having acquired property in the same mahal by means of a subsequent sale deed dated 28th Chet 1995. It was further pleaded that the vendee had some land upon which he worked a water mill and that in that capacity also he was owner in the mahal.
(3.) The plaintiff's suit is dismissed by both the Courts below. The first Court held that the vendee was owner of the mahal by virtue of the land under the water mill. The lower appellate Court overset this finding holding that the defendant was only an occupancy tenant of such land but dismissed the suit on the ground that by virtue of the sale deed dated 28th Chet 1995 the vendee "had clothed himself with an equal status to that of the plaintiff by purchasing another property in the village".