M. C. PUTTASWAMY Vs. S. SRIDHARA RAO

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal is by the plaintiff who had instituted the suit seeking to enforce a registered agreement of sale dtd. 5/1/1991. Under this agreement, according to the plaintiff, the defendant had agreed to sell the suit property to the plaintiff for a total sale consideration of Rs.1,00,000.00 and he had also paid Rs.91,000.00 as advance. A period of six months had been stipulated for completing the sale transaction.

(2.) On 27/3/1992, endorsement was made that the defendant was not in a position to execute the sale deed in time and hence, the date for completion of the sale transaction was extended and fixed as 27/5/1992. Thereafter, another endorsement was made extending the time further from 27/5/1992 to 15/10/1992. This endorsement was made on 18/9/1992 and on that day while making the endorsement, a sum of Rs.5,000.00 was paid as cash by the plaintiff. Thus, as on 18/9/1992, a total sum of Rs.96,000.00 was paid out of the sale transaction of Rs.1,00,000.00. It was the case of the plaintiff that the defendant did not abide by his commitment to execute the sale deed despite issuance of legal notices and left with no other alternative, the plaintiff was constrained to file the suit.

(3.) The defendant contested the suit principally on the ground that he had not executed agreement of sale but it was, in fact, a loan transaction. He contended that he had approached the plaintiff for raising a loan of Rs.75,000.00 on interest since the plaintiff was running a Finance Institution under the name and style Santhosh Finance Corporation. He contended that the plaintiff had lent him a sum of Rs.75,000.00 on 8/1/1991 on the condition that the defendant should pay interest at the rate of 5% per month. It was contended that in view of the urgent requirement of money to finalise the purchase of land, he had to accept the exorbitant rate of interest demanded by plaintiff.