- (1.) In this Letters Patent appeal, the sole point involved is whether right to sue would survive to challenge customary appointment of an heir (adoption) after amendment of Section 7 of the Punjab Customs (Power to Contest) Act, 1920 (hereinafter called the Act), by Section 3 of the Punjab Customs (Power to Contest) Amendment Act, 1973 (hereinafter called the Amendment Act).
(2.) The amended Section 7 of the Act reads as follows :- "7. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in Section 5, Punjab Laws Act, 1872, no person shall contest any alienation of immovable property, whether ancestral or non-ancestral, or any appointment of any heir to such property on the ground that such alienation or appointment is contrary to customs." Prior to the amendment of 1973, a right to sue was given to male heirs to contest any alienation or appointment of an heir with regard to ancestral property on the ground that these were opposed to custom but by virtue of the unamended Section 7 of the Act, it was clearly stated that such right could not be exercised with regard to non ancestral property. The effect of the 1873 amendment is that no right to sue subsists for challenging either alienation or customary appointment of an heir, whether of ancestral or of non-ancestral property on the ground of being contrary to custom.
(3.) A case of challenging the alienation of ancestral property being contrary to custom was pending in this Court when the amendment of 1973 was made and the effect of the amendment came up for consideration before a Division Bench in Charan Singh v. Gehil Singh and Another,1974 RLR(Rent) 80, wherein it was held that the effect of the Amendment Act was that the right to impugn the alienation being contrary to custom was taken away. We entirely agree with that decision. The same would be the effect in the case of challenge to appointment of an heir being contrary to custom. No meaningful argument has been raised on behalf of the appellants showing that there would be any difference when customary appointment of an heir is challenged under custom as compared to challenging an alienation being contrary to custom. Both these matters were covered under the unamended as well as the amended Section 7 of the Act and, therefore, the same result will follow for both these matters, namely, alienation as well as appointment of an heir.;