SHAMBHU PRASAD SINGH, J.

1. The Bihar Money-lenders Act, 1974 (hereinafter referred to as the Act) after it was passed by the Bihar Legislature received the assent of the President of India on the 20th of March, 1975. The Act as passed in Hindi was published in the Bihar Gazette (Extraordinary) dated 25th of March, 1975. An authoritative English text of the Act was published in the Bihar Gazette (Extraordinary) dated 29th of April, 1975. However, another authoritative English text of it was published in the Bihar Gazette (Extraordinary) dated 25th of July, 1975 superseding the authoritative English text published earlier in the Bihar Gazette (Extraordinary) dated 29th of April, 1975. The provisions of the Act referred to in this judgment are as published in the Bihar Gazette (Extraordinary) dated 25th of July, 1975.

2. The Act came into force immediately after the publication in the Bihar Gazette as S. 1 (3) of it provides that it shall come into force at once. Sec. 12 of the Act reads as follows :-

"12. Usufructuary mortgages and their redemption - Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in any agreement, the principal amount and all dues in respect of an usufructuary mortgage relating to any agricultural land, whether executed before or after the commencement of this Act, shall be deemed to have been fully satisfied and the mortgage shall be deemed to have been wholly redeemed on expiry of a period of seven years from the date of the execution of the mortgage bond in respect of such land and the mortgagor shall be entitled to recover possession of the mortgaged land in the manner prescribed under the rules : Provided that if the mortgage bond had been executed before the commencement of this Act nothing in this section shall entitle the mortgagor to claim any accounts or profits from the mortgagee by the reason of the benefit of redemption of the mortgage under this provision."

The Bihar Money-lenders Rules, 1975 (hereinafter referred to as the Rules) were published in the Bihar Gazette (Extraordinary) dated 29th July 1975. The Rules were framed under S. 47 of the Act which conferred power on the State Government to make rules by notification in the official gazette for carrying put all or any of the purposes of the Act Rules 9 and 10 of the Rules prescribe the manner in which the mortgagor shall be entitled to recover possession of the mortgaged lands as envisaged by Sec.12 of the Act. When mortgagors made applications under R. 10 (1) of the Rules before the Collector to eject the mortgagees from the mortgaged properties and notices of such applications were sent to the mortgagees, a large number of applications under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India were filed before this Court challenging the vires of S. 12 of the Act and rules 9 and 10 of the Rules. One of such applications (Kailash Pati Singh V/s. State of Bihar) was disposed of by a bench of this Court of which I was also a Member. That judgment is reported in AIR 1976 Pat 248. That judgment held that S. 12 of the Act and Rules 9 and 10 of the Rules were not ultra vires. Grounds were taken in that writ application of Kailash Pati Singh that Sec.12 of the Act was ultra vires as it was violative of the fundamental rights conferred upon a citizen by Part III of the Constitution specially Article 19. As, at the time the case was heard, the Presidential Order dated 8th of Jan., 1976 issued under Art. 359 (1) of the Constitution suspending the right to move any Court for enforcement of such rights was in force and the writ case had to remain pending in this Court during the period the said order remained in force, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner did not press that ground. The vires of S. 12 of the Act was, therefore, examined in that case only on grounds other than the one that S. 12 of the Act was violative of fundamental rights conferred upon a citizen by Part III of the Constitution.

3. Madho Singh, the petitioner of the pr