Judgment

SARKAR, J. : The appellants are traders of Jhalawar. Respondent No. 1, the Collector of Jhalawar, served on the appellants a notice under S. 6 of the Rajasthan Public Demands Recovery Act, 1952, hereafter called the Act, for the recovery from them as a public demand, of Rs. 2,24,607/6/6 said to be due on account of loans taken by them from the Jhalawar State Bank. The appellants filed a petition under S. 8 of the Act contending, among other things, that the amount sought to be recovered from them was not a public demand. Respondent No. 1 appears to have called upon the appellants to prove that it was not a public demand. The appellants without proceeding further before respondent No. 1, filed a petition in the High Court of Rajasthan for the issue of a writ quashing the proceedings under the Public Demands Recovery Act. The High Court dismissed the petition but granted a certificate that the case was fit for an appeal to this Court. Hence the present appeal.

2. The only question raised in this appeal is whether any loan due to the Jhalawar State Bank could be recovered as a public demands. A "public demand" within the meaning of the Act is "any money payable to the Governmen