Satish Chandra, J. - (1.) This petition arises out of proceedings under the Consolidation of Holdings Act.
(2.) The Petitioner is a brother of one Ratan. Both were sirdars of plots of Khata No. 107 in dispute. On 8 -5 -1964 Ratan deposited ten times rent of his share of the Khata aforesaid and made an application for a Bhumidhari Sanad. The same day i.e. on 8 -5 -1964 Ratan sold the property in dispute in favour of the Respondents by a registered sale -deed. Ratan died on 26 -9 -1964. On 30 -12 -1965 the Bhumidhari Sanad was granted in favour of Ratan. The Petitioner filed an appeal against this grant, during the pendency of which the proceedings under the Consolidation of Holdings Act commenced. Consequently, the Petitioner filed an objection under Sec. 9 claiming that he being the heir of Ratan has succeeded to the property and that the Respondents obtained no valid title by the sale deed executed by Ratan because on the date when the deed was executed Ratan was not a Bhumidhar but only a sirdar and as such entitled to transfer.
(3.) The Deputy Director has held that the sale -deed was valid. Under Sec. 134 of the Zamindari Abolition Act a sirdar is entitled, from the date on which the amount has been deposited, to a declaration that he has acquired the rights mentioned in Sec. 137. Under Sec. 137 upon the grant of the certificate the sirdar becomes and is deemed to be a Bhumidhar of the holding of the share in respect of which a certificate has been granted from the date thereof. So on the grant of the certificate the person becomes by a legal fiction, a Bhumidhar with retrospective effect from the date of the deposit of ten times of rent. In the instant case the Sanad was actually granted in favour of Ratan. He, therefore, became and will be deemed to have become a Bhumidhar from the date of the deposit i.e. from 8 -5 -1964 and as such the sale -deed executed by him was valid.;