The Bengal Agricultural Debtors Act proceedings, including the so-called award, were not binding on all the plaintiffs, although two of them Kamalesh and Amaresh were minors at the relevant dates.

( 1 ) ON May 29, 1935, the defendant-respondent Sushil Chandra Moulik and his brother Suresh Chandra Moulik, since deceased, borrowed a sum of Rs. 7,000/- from the plaintiff appellants' father late Krishnadas Banerjee on a first mortgage of their premises No. 32, Mahesh Barik Lane, Baliaghata, 24-Parganas. The mortgage deed (Ex. 1 (a)) provided, inter alia, for payment of interest at the rate of 7 1/2 per cent, per annum compound with half-yearly rests and the stipulated date of re-payment was May 29, 1936.

( 2 ) ON the back of the mortgage bond (Ex. 1 (a)) there were several endorsements of payment of interest totalling Rs. 2,229-8-0 and these were duly given credit in the plaint which laid the claim at Rs. 11,508/- on account of the outstanding principal and interest. The plaintiffs prayed for the usual mortgage decrees, preliminary, final and personal, and for costs.

( 3 ) THE suit was contested by the defendant Sushil Chandra Moulik who claimed to be the 16 annas owner of the mortgaged property by virtue of a kobala or deed of sale, dated April 20, 1937, from his brother Suresh Chandra Moulik and his defence, inter alia, was (i) that the suit was barred by reason of certain proceedings and an award under the Bengal Agricultural Debtors Act and (ii) that further payments to the tune of Rs. 1,900/-made by him in respect of the above disputed mortgage had not been shown in the plaint and the defendant was entitled to credit for the same. Details of these defences will be given and discussed by us in the course of this judgment but we may at once indicate here that the main question which arises for our consideration in this appeal relates to the effect of the Bengal Agricultural Debtors Act proceedings, referred to in the written statement, on this mortgage Suit.

( 4 ) DUE execution of the mortgage bond is admitted. Its attestation also is admitted, but the defendant has succeeded in showing that he included this debt in his application or statement of debt (Ex. 1) before the Debt Settlement Board, the proceedings in connection with which were originally started before the Debt Settlement Board of Tantiband and, later on, transferred to the Sujanagar Debt Settlement Board as Case No. T 59 of 1942 and that, eventually, there was an order made by the Board under Section 13 (2) of the Bengal Agricultural Debtors Act in the Said proceedings, fixing the maximum limit of the recoverable amount under this debt at Rs. 3,000/-, of which a total sum of Rs. 1,900/- was paid by the defendant upto the date of the filing of his written statement.

( 5 ) IT is necessary to state here that the present defendant Sushil Chandra Moulik borrowed another sum of Rs. 2,000/- on a second mortgage of the self-same property (including his brother's moiety share, acquired by him as aforesaid) under a bond (Ex. 1) executed in favour of plaintiff No. 1 Hrishikesh Banerjee alone on April 20, 1937, which also was the subject-matter of the above proceedings under the Bengal Agricultural Debtors Act and for which the upward limit of Rs. 1,000/- was fix ed as the recoverable amount under the above order under Section 13 (2), to which reference has been made, above, and, out of the total recoverable amount of Rs. 3,000/- plus Rs. 1,000/-, equal to Rs. 4,000/-, on the above two mortgages (Exs. 1 and 1 (a)) under the aforesaid order under Section 13 (2), the debtor defendant Sushil Chandra Moulik had paid a sum of Rs. 2,900/- which included the above payment of Rs. 1,900/- in respect of the first bond (Ex. 1 (a)), as mentioned above in the preceding paragraph. It may be mentioned also that a separate suit (Title Suit No. 115 of 1947) was brought by Hrishikesh on his second mortgage bond, mentioned above, but the same was dismissed by the learned Subordinate Judge and there is no appeal from that decision.

( 6 ) THE payment of Rs. 2,900/-, mentioned above, appears to have, been made by Postal, Money Order, Postal Insurance and on one occa