KASTURCHAND LAKHMAJI Vs. JAKHIA PADIA PATIL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The suit out of which this appeal arises was brought for a declaration that a certain apparent sale dated the 14th August 1902 was in reality a mortgage and for an order allowing the plaintiffs to redeem the property on payment to the defendants of any sum that might be found due to them on accounts taken under the Dekkhan Agriculturists Relief Act.

(2.) The question, which has divided the learned Judges below, was whether the transaction of the 14th August 1902 was an out and out sale or a mortgage by conditional sale. The learned trial Judge was of opinion that it was a sale, while the learned District Judge held that it was a mortgage by conditional sale.

(3.) It may be observed that whether the transaction be regarded as a sale or a mortgage, the plaintiffs are still within time to recover their land. For, on the footing that the transaction was a sale with a right of repurchase in the plaintiffs, the plaintiffs are still entitled to repurchase. The object of the suit, therefore, seems to be on the plaintiffs part to obtain a decree for redemption under the Dekkhan Agriculturists Relief Act which would enable them to open their accounts with their creditors from the beginning, and it is this reopening of the accounts which the defendants resist.