Judgement

S. K. DAS, J. : In this appeal, pursuant to special leave against the judgment and order of the High Court of Madras, the question for decision is Whether the appellant who claims to be an agriculturist debtor is entitled to apply for scaling down of his decretal debt under the provisions of the Madras Agriculturists Relief Act (Mad. IV of 1938), hereinafter called the Act, as amended by the Madras Agriculturists Relief (Amendment) Act (Mad. XXIII of 1948), hereinafter called the amending Act.

2. The facts which have led to this appeal are that a partnership firm, briefly described as M. Ar. Firm, whose partners were Arunachalam Chetty, his two sisters and Subramaniam Chetty, was carrying on the business of money lending. On the death of Arunachalam Chetty on 6-7-1916, Subramaniam Chetty, one of the surviving partners, took over the assets of the dissolved partnership firm at a valuation of Rs. 25,000 and carried on the business under the name and style of Pl. S. firm of which the partners were Subramaniam Chetty, Vellachi Achi, his two daughters and in 1919 Palaniappa, Chetty, father of the appellant, joined the partnership. The amount of Rs. 25,000 was credited in the a