NANA MIA Vs. MANU MIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Plaintiff sued upon a khata for recovery of Rs. 294 made up of principal Rs. 100 and interest at the rate of 6 1/4 per cent per mensem. Defendant repudiated the execution of the khata entry and denied the loan.

(2.) The entry in the khata shows a stipulation to pay interest at 6 1/4 per cent without mentioning whether it was per mensem or per annum. Defendant in several places in his written statement adverted to the plaintiff's allegation in the plaint of the stipulated rate of interest being per month but did not controvert it specifially or plead its excessive or unconscionable character, beyond denying the transaction in toto. Paragraph 5 of the written statement, however, when translated runs thus: "The stipulation mentioned in the plaint is illegal and no claim for interest is sustainable on the basis of the same. It is exceedingly improbable and unnatural to borrow money at the rate of 6i per cent per mensem for the purposes of business; and if such a transaction ever took place it is humanly improbable that the debt should have been left unpaid or unrealised for such a long time. Besides interest at the rate claimed is penal and unconscionable." Whether by this statement the defendant invited the Court to adjudicate on the question as to the character of the interest or he merely pleaded it showing the improbability of the transaction is not very clear. From the Summons book all that appears is that only one witness for the plaintiff stated and that in cross- examination that the rate of interest stipulated was 6 1/4 per cent per mensem.

(3.) The Court has disbelieved the defence and decreed the plaintiff's suit in full.