SOOLAPANI VARIYAR Vs. PADMAVATHY AMMA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The only question for determination in this Civil Miscellaneous Appeal is whether a secured creditor can claim the entire amount due to him in view of the Kerala Agriculturists Debt Relief Act, 1958. S.15 of the Act says:-

(2.) S.16 of the Act provides that on receipt of an application under S.15, the court shall pass an order fixing a date for hearing the application, that notice of such order shall be sent by registered post acknowledgment due, and in such other manner, if so prescribed by rules, to all the parties to the proceedings, and that during the pendency of an application under S.15, the court may stay any suit or the execution of any decree against the applicant or his properties. S.17 of the Act provides that the court shall determine the admissibility and the amount of each such claim and shall for such purpose take all steps necessary for the determination of any question raised in the case, and that the procedure prescribed in the Insolvency Act, 1955, shall mutatis mutandis be applicable to such proceedings. Then follows S.18 which reads as follows:-

(3.) The question for determination is whether these provisions preclude a secured creditor from recovering his entire debt or in other words, whether there is a diminution not merely of the extent of the security but also of the quantum of the liability. The order under appeal has held, on the basis of the decision in State Bank of Travancore Ltd. v. Ayyappan Pillai 1963 KLJ 207 , that a secured creditor cannot recover more than three fourths of his debt even though the balance of his security is sufficient for the realisation of the whole of his debt.