ORIENTAL BANK OF COMMERCE Vs. MAHABIR SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS order shall dispose of Civil Revision Nos. 2793, 3739, 3740, 3741 of 1989 and Civil Revision Nos. 1139, 1140, 1141 and 1789 of 1999, as identical questions. of law and facts are involved in all these revision petitions. However, for facility of reference, the facts are taken from Civil Revision No. 2793 of 1989.

(2.) THE petitioner filed a suit for recovery of the amount advanced to the respondents for the purchase of tractor. Since the respondents failed to make the payment of the loan advanced i.e. Rs. 49,900/- along with interest accrued thereon, the plaintiff-petitioner filed a suit for recovery of Rs. 79,749.30 The said suit was decreed on 7.12.1987

(3.) THE Act defines debt to mean all liabilities owing to a creditor including a Bank, any cash or kind, secured or unsecured payable under decree or order of a Civil Court subsisting on the date of the commencement of the Act, whether due or not but does not include any debt which represents the price of any goods or property purchased by a debtor or any advance sum of money given by, or the property to be sold later on. However, such Act was amended firstly by Haryana Act No. 8 of 1991, whereby the debt was defined to mean loan taken for agricultural occupation mentioned in clause (a) and includes construction of a room for tubewell, purchase of van or cart etc., for transport of produce. Later vide Haryana Act No. 15 of 1993, Sub-Clauses (xii) and (xiii) have been notified in the exceptions of Section 2(g) of the Act, Relevant extracts of Section 2(g) of the Act read as under : Section 2(g) "debt" means loan taken for agricultural occupations mentioned in clause (a) and includes construction of room for tubewell, purchase of van or cart etc. for transport of produce and all liabilities owing to a creditor including a bank, in cash or kind, secured or unsecured, payable under a decree or order of a civil court or otherwise whether due or not due but it does not include - ...[VERNACULAR TEXT OMMITED]... (vii) any debt which represents the price of any goods or property purchased by a debtor; (viii) any advance of money given to the debtor by a person as the price of goods or property to be sold later on; ...[VERNACULAR TEXT OMMITED]... (xii) any debt due to a Scheduled bank as defined in clause (e) of section 2 of the Reserved Bank of India Act, 1934 and included in the Second Scheduled thereof; (xiii) any debt due to the Haryana State Co-operative Apex Bank Limited, Chandigarh, the Central Co-operative Banks, the Primary Co-operative Agricultural Development Banks, and the Primary Co-operative Credit and Service Societies; registered under the Haryana Co-operative Societies Act, 1984."