Law:

Section:

(a) North-West Frontier Province Pre-emption Act (X of 1987)--

----S. 24---North-West Frontier Province Pre-emption Act (XIV of 1950), S.23---Plaintiff's failure to deposit one-third of the sale or probable value of property in cash and the remaining two-third through bank guarantee within the extended period fixed by Court would result in dismissal of suit for pre-emption under provision of S.24(2) of Act X of 1987---Neither time for deposit could be. extended nor new suit could be instituted in spite of time for filing suit having not expired---Court under provisions of repealed Pre-emption Act. 1950, while exercising powers under 0.23(4), could extend the time for deposit of pre-emption money and for non-deposit of pre-emption amount plaint was to be rejected.

Under first proviso to subsection (1) of section 24 of the Act X of 1987, the Court was not competent to extend the period for deposit of the pre emption amount beyond thirty days of the filing of the suit. Subsection (2) of section 24 provides for the dismissal of the suit when plaintiff had failed to deposit one-third of the sale price or probable value of the property and the required bank guarantee within the period fixed by the Court. No doubt the fresh pre-emption suits were instituted within one year from, the date of attestation of sale mutation but the entertainment of these suits would have thwarted the provision of law as contained in the 1st proviso of subsection (1) of section 24 of the Act placing embargo on the power of the Court to extend the period beyond thirty days, for; in that case the Court could be said to have extended the time which it did not extend in the previously instituted suits. The Act contemplates only the first pre-emption suit. It is an enactment in accordance with injunctions of Islam and with no stretch of imagination can be said to be analogous to the provisions of the old Pre-emption Act, where under subsection (4) of section 23, the Court could extend the time for deposit of the pre-emption money and for non-deposit of pre-emption amount the plaint was to be rejected.