Mandatory certificate requirements and final confirmation govern statutory sale validity and limitation for a suit to set aside the sale.

A statutory sale based on a mandatory certificate procedure is ineffective unless the prescribed certificate and notice requirements are strictly complied with, because the certificate forms the legal foundation for enforcement against immovable property. For limitation, time under Article 12 runs only from the date the sale is finally confirmed or otherwise becomes final and conclusive; where confirmation proceedings remain pending, the sale is not yet finally confirmed. On that basis, the suit was within time, and the sale failed for want of compliance with the statutory prerequisites.

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Issues: (i) Whether the suit to set aside the sale was barred by limitation, and (ii) whether the sale was invalid for non-compliance with the statutory requirements governing the certificate and notice.

Issue (i): Whether the suit to set aside the sale was barred by limitation.

Analysis: The limitation period under Article 12 of the second Schedule ran from the date when the sale was confirmed or otherwise became final and conclusive. While the revenue proceedings questioning confirmation were still pending, there was no final, conclusive, or definitive confirmation. The operative confirmation arose only when the Board of Revenue finally disposed of the matter, so the sale could not be treated as finally confirmed earlier for limitation purposes.

Conclusion: The suit was not barred by limitation.

Issue (ii): Whether the sale was invalid for non-compliance with the statutory requirements governing the certificate and notice.

Analysis: Sections 7, 8, and 10 of the Bengal Act No. VII of 1880 made a properly framed certificate by the collector the foundation of the statutory sale, and the certificate had to conform to the prescribed form before it could operate as the basis of enforcement and notice. The documents relied upon were notices, not the required certificate, and did not satisfy the mandatory form or substance demanded by the Act. Without such a certificate, there was no lawful foundation for the sale or for binding the immovable property of the debtor.

Conclusion: The sale was invalid for want of compliance with the statutory prerequisites.

Final Conclusion: The appeal failed because the suit was within time and the statutory sale was unsupported by the certificate required by the governing enactment.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a statutory sale is founded on a mandatory certificate procedure, no limitation bar arises until the confirmation becomes final, and no valid sale can stand unless the certificate and notice requirements prescribed by the statute are strictly complied with.

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