SUKHDEO SINGH Vs. SAHEH LALL SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) On 29th January, 1977, Shri Saheb Lall Singh filed a suit in the court of the Munsif, Danapur, for recovery of a sum of Rs. 2000 alleged to have been lent to the defendant, Shri Sukdeo Singh, on the basis of a hand note executed by the defendant in favour of the plaintiff on 13th April, 1974 and for interest therein.

(2.) The defendant filed a written statement pleading, inter alia, that the handnote was a forged and fabricated document, that the defendant never took the loan alleged and that the suit was barred under the provisions of the Bihar Money Lenders Act. The defendant also pleaded that he was a scheduled debtor within the meaning of the expression as used in the Bihar Debt Relief Act, 1976 (Bihar Act 10 of 1977) hereinafter called the Act, as he was an agriculturist having unirrigated land, less than 2 accres in area. 'Thereafter, on 31st July, 1978, the defendant filed an application praying that the suit be dismissed as the defendant was a "scheduled debtor" within the meaning of the expression as used in the Act, and, therefore, the amount of the alleged loan would not be realised from him. The defendant also filed a Rin Mukti Praman Patra, dated 2nd January, 1978 granted by the Deputy Collector Incharge Land Reforms, Danapur, in Rin Mukti Vad Sankhya 2511 of 1977 in proof of his plea of exemption from payment of the debt in question.

(3.) The plaintiff filed a rejoinder to the petition denying that the defendant was a "scheduled debtor" under the Act and alleged that he was the karta of a family possessing more than 10 acres of land. It was also asserted therein that the aforesaid Rin Mukti Praman Patra had been obtained by fraud and deceitful means and, therefore, was of no avail to the defendant.