- (1.)THIS is a Letters Patent Appeal against the judgment and decree of T. C. Shrivastava, J. in second appeal No. 757 of 1959, decided on 12-1-1962.
(2.)THE respondent (plaintiff) on 1-8-1944, characterising the suit transaction, as herein below set out, as a usufructuary mortgage, filed a suit for its redemption. The facts pleaded by him were that though he was in urgent need of Rs. 600/-for payment of land revenue, the defendants-creditors were unwilling to advance the amount on a simple transaction of money-lending but insisted on a deed of sale with a condition that they shall remain in possession of the property sold in lieu of interest and that the possession of it would be returned to him when he repaid the loan; that in terms of the aforesaid agreement, the plaintiff put the defendants in possession of this two sir fields, viz. , Khasra No. 21/9, area 7. 28 acres, and khasra No. 24/4, area 3. 00 acres, both situate at mouza Rehuta, tahsil Mungeli, district Bilaspur, and also executed a formal deed of sale which, however, was never registered, as it was never intended to be an effective document; and that the defendants remained in possession for a few years; but when the plaintiff offered to repay the debt and claimed back possession of the land, they refused. He, therefore, inter alia, prayed that possession of the suit fields be ordered to be delivered to him on his paying to the defendants Rs. 600/ -.
(3.)THE defendants contested the suit, chiefly on the ground that the transaction in suit was an out-and-out sale. They also pleaded protection under Section 53-A of the Transfer of Property Act, in so far as their possession was under an unregistered deed of sale.