Pre-emption rights of a tenant fail if tenancy ends by valid ejectment before the decree, the Court held.

A tenant claiming pre-emption under Section 15(1)(a) fourthly of the Punjab Pre-emption Act, 1913 must retain the qualifying status of tenant not only on the date of sale and suit, but also on the date of decree. The Supreme Court noted that a valid ejectment order under Section 9 of the Punjab Security of Land Tenures Act, 1953 terminates the landlord-tenant relationship, and actual dispossession is not required for tenancy to end. Because the claimants had ceased to be tenants before the pre-emption decree was passed, they no longer satisfied the statutory qualification, and the pre-emption claim could not be sustained.

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Issues: Whether a tenant claiming pre-emption under Section 15(1)(a) fourthly of the Punjab Pre-emption Act, 1913 must continue to retain the status of tenant until the date of the decree, and whether an order of ejectment passed before the decree defeats the pre-emption claim.

Analysis: The right of pre-emption is governed by the settled rule that the pre-emptor must possess the necessary qualification not only on the date of sale and the date of suit, but also on the date of the decree. The Court applied that principle to a tenant claiming under Section 15(1)(a) fourthly and held that once a valid order of ejectment is passed under Section 9 of the Punjab Security of Land Tenures Act, 1953, the relationship of landlord and tenant comes to an end. Actual dispossession is not necessary for the determination of tenancy. Since the appellants had ceased to be tenants before the decree for pre-emption was passed, they no longer satisfied the statutory requirement.

Conclusion: The eviction order passed before the decree destroyed the appellants' qualification to pre-empt, and the suit for pre-emption could not be sustained.

Final Conclusion: A tenant claiming pre-emption must retain the status of tenant up to the date of decree, and a prior order of ejectment under the land-tenure defeats that right.

Ratio Decidendi: The statutory right of pre-emption available to a tenant depends on continued subsistence of the tenancy up to the date of decree; if the tenancy is validly determined by an ejectment order before that date, the pre-emption claim fails.

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