BODHANLAL RAMDULARE Vs. ADDITIONAL COLLECTOR BILASPUR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) PETITIONER Bodhanlal purchased from respondent no. 3 Kejuram 1. 42 acres of land and a house standing thereon for a sum of rs. 1200/- by a registered sale-deed dated 5-3-1968. His name was mutated against the land and house in presence of the respondent No. 3 by the revenue authorities. Possession of the property so sold was delivered, to Petitioner and is still with him. On 2-6-1981, respondent No. 3 Kejuram filed an application before the Sub-Divisional Officer under Section 5 of M. P. Samaj Ke Kamjor Vargon Ke krishi Bhumi Dharakon Ka Udhar Dene Walon Ke Bhumi Hadapane sambandhi Kuchakron Se Paritran Tatha Mukti Adhiniyam, 1976 (No. 3 of 1977 ). It was alleged that somewhere in the year 1967-68, Kejuram borrowed a sum of Rs. 500/- and executed the sale-deed with an agreement to re-convey it on payment of the principal amount. The purchaser, viz. , Bodhanlal, the petitioner, was permitted to cultivate the land in lieu of interest. The market price of the land was Rs. 4000/- at the time of transaction. The petitioner filed reply alleging the transaction to be an out and out sale. By order dated 28-8-1981 (Annexure G), the Sub-Divisional Officer allowed the application and declared the transaction void. It was also observed that since the petitioner had reaped the crop for so many years, he is also not entitled to the return of the principal amount. This order was upheld by the Collector in appeal vide Annexure K dated 1-3-1982. The petitioner challenges both these orders (Annexures G and k) in this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India.

(2.) SHRI R. C. Khare, learned counsel for the petitioner, urged that since the petitioner is not a lender of money and does not advance loan, the provisions of the Act are not attracted and on this count alone, the application of the respondent No. 3 should have been dismissed. In our opinion, Shri Khare's contention is well founded and must be given effect to.

(3.) SECTION 2 (d) of the Act No. 3 of 1977 defines 'lender of money' to mean a person advancing loan to a holder of agricultural land, whether registered under the M. P. Money Lenders Act, 1934 or not. According to Section 2 (f), a 'prohibited transaction of loan' is a transaction in which a lender of money advances loan to a holder of agricultural land against security of his interest in land, whether at the time of advancing the loan or at any time thereafter during the currency of the loan in any of the following modes, namely : (iii) outright sale of land with or without delivery of possession with a distinct oral understanding that the sale shall not be acted upon if the loan is re-paid;" under the provisions of the Act, a holder of agricultural land in the weaker section of the society is entitled to relief only if he can establish that the transaction in question is a prohibited transaction of loan. In absence of such a finding, it will not be competent for the Sub-Divisional Officer to afford any relief to any holder of agricultural land belonging to weaker section of the society in terms of the Act. From the definition of the term 'prohibited transaction of loan', as shown above, it is clear that in order to come within the purview of prohibited transaction of loan, the loan must be advanced by a lender of money. According to Section 2 (d), a person can be said to be lender of money only when he is found to be advancing loan to a holder of agricultural land. A stray transaction of loan by a person will not make him a 'lender of money' because in that event the person cannot be possibly held to be advancing loan. The phrase 'advancing loan' necessarily implies a process of advancement of loan as opposed to stray transaction of loan. It is true that a person advancing loan shall be a lender of money for the purpose of Section 2 (d) of the Act even if he is not registered as a money lender under the M. P. Money Lenders Act, 1934. That, however, does not mean that who is not so registered under the Money lenders Act but makes stray advance of loan to holder of agricultural land becomes a lender of money.