Judgement

Consolidated Appeals (No. 19 of 1946) from a judgment and three orders of the Federal Court of India (December 12, 1944) which reversed a judgment of the High Court at Calcutta in its revisional jurisdiction (February 24, 1944), which had affirmed judgments and decrees of the Subordinate Judge of Khulna (November 8, 1941) and of the Munsif of Khulna (January 31 and June 12, 1942).

[Two appeals. No. 19 of 1946, and No. 9 of 1946 (post p. 45), were heard together by the Board.]

The following facts and citation of the statutory provisions are taken from the judgment of the Judicial Committee. The question in dispute in this appeal was as to the validity of the Bengal Money Lenders Act, 1940. That Act limited the amount recoverable by a moneylender on his loans for principal and interest and prohibited the payment of sums larger than those permitted by the Act.

The respondent was an incorporated body to which, by an order of May 12, 1941, passed by the High Court of Calcutta under s. 153A of the Indian Companies Act, the assets of the Khulna Loan Bank, Ld. (earlier known as the Khulna Loan Co., Ld.) were transferred. Some of the cases now under appeal to their Lordships Board