K SUDERSANAM Vs. S VENKATARAO

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In the Court of the Chief Judge, Small Causes, Hyderabad, the sole plaintiff S. Venkat Rao filed a suit (S. C. S. No. 135/2 of 1959) against the sole defendant Mrs. K. Sudersanam on a promissory note which had been executed by the defendant on 12-3-1956 for a sum of Rs. 1,000.00. The defendant contested the suit on various grounds. The learned Chief Judge awarded a decree against the defendant as prayed for. The defendant thereupon filed this revision, petition against the said judgment and decree.

(2.) The main contentions in the plaint were as follows: The defendant was a teacher in a Railway school and was known to the plaintiffs wife for a long time. The defendant approached the plaintiff for a loan of Rs. 1,600.00 and the plaintiff accordingly agreed. The defendant herself wrote in urdu the promissory note (Ex. A-1) and receipt for a sum of Rs. 1,600.00. After that, the plain-tiff found that he had only Rs. 1,000.00 and had advanced that sum. At the instance of the defendant, the plaintiff struck out the figure of Rs. 1,600.00 and noted in Telugu, the figure of Rs. 1,000.00 which was actually the amount being advanced as loan. Then the defendant herself wrote Rs. 1,000.00 in figures and signed in the promissory note.

(3.) In her written statement, the defendant contended as follows: She obtained a loan of Rs. 200.00 from the plaintiff in 1952 and paid large sums which amounted to much more than the interest and the principal. Still, the plaintiff represented that a sum of Rs. 800.00 was still due from her and made her execute the promissory note and receipt for double that sum namely. Rs. 1,600.00. It is true that she put the figure of Rs. 1,000.00 in the promissory note. After the execution of the promissory note, she made payments amounting to Rs. 2,500.00. The plaintiff was a money lender and had not complied with the provisions of the Hyderabad Money Lenders Act.