JUDGMENT

S.C. Agrawal, J.-Special Leave granted.

2. This appeal directed against the judgment of the Culcutta High Court dated May 3, 1995, is in the third round of the litigation between the Peerless General Finance & Investment Company Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Peerless ) and the Reserve Bank of India (hereinafter referred to as the Bank )

3. Peerless was incorporated in 1932 as a limited company under the provisions of the Indian Companias Act, 1913 with name Peerless General Insurance and Investment Company Ltd. It was carrying on life insurance business. After the enactment of the Life Insurance Corporation Act, 1936 Peerless could not carry on life Insurance business and it changed its name to Peerless General Finance and Investment Co. Ltd. and is now carrying on finance and investment business. It offers small saving schemes to the public at large wherein the subscribers are required to pay a fixed amount as subscription on yearly, half-yearly or quarterly basis for a fixed number of years and on the expiry of the said period, the subscriber is paid a sum of money called Endowment sum, which is the face value of the certificate, and certain additional amounts by way