S.J.MUKHOPADHAYA, J.

( 1. ) IN all these appeals as common question of law is involved, they were heard together and disposed of by this common judgement.

( 2. ) THE appellants-Radhe Estate Developers of Letters Patent Appeal No. 113 of 2010 preferred a writ petition - Special Civil Application No.13024 of 2009 for a direction on the respondent-Assistant Registrar (Money Lending), Ahmedabad, to decide the application preferred by it for prosecution of the 1st respondent - Mehta Integrated Finance Limited, for having obtained licence under the Bombay Money-Lenders Act, 1946, (hereinafter referred to as 'the Money-Lenders Act') and thereby prosecute it u/Sec.35A and 35B of the Money-Lenders Act. Learned Single Judge, having noticed that the representation preferred by the appellant-writ petitioner is pending with the authorities, disposed of the writ petition by the impugned order dated 14th December 2009 with a direction to decide the said representation, giving rise to the appeal.

The other appeals, i.e. Letters Patent Appeals Nos. 1094, 1095 and 1097 of 2010, have been preferred by State of Gujarat or its authorities against the common judgement dated 13th January 2010 passed in four different writ petitions, wherein learned Single Judge held that the Bombay Money-Lenders Act, 1946, would not be applicable to the companies, which are Non-Banking Financial Companies (hereinafter referred to as 'N.B.F.Cs.') and governed by Chapter III of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 (hereinafter referred to as 'the R.B.I. Act'), and thereby set aside the notices issued by the Assistant Registrar (Money-Lending) to four different companies under the Money-Lenders Act.

( 3. ) THE questions required to be determined in these appeals are:

(i) whether the Bombay Money-Lenders Act, 1946, apply to the Non-Banking Financial Companies?and (ii) whether the Bombay Money-Lenders Act, 1946, is repugnant to the extent of Non-Banking Financial Companies registered under the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934?

( 4. ) MR. Jaswant K. Shah, learned A.G.P. appearing on behalf of the State, while referring to the objects and reasons of the Money-Lenders Act, submitted that the said Act was enacted by the State to make better provisions for the regulation and control of transactions of money-lending in the State. The State Legislature has exclusive power to enact the laws under Art.246(3) of the Constitution of India, particularly with regard to money-lending. Entry 30 of List-II of the 7th Schedule of the Constitution empowers States to enact such laws with regard to 'money-lending and money-lenders' and according to him, salient provisions of Bombay Money-Lenders Act, 1946 are enumerated in Secs. 5, 6, 8, 11, 18, 19, 23, 25(1) and 25(3), 26, 32, 33, 34 and 35. He has submitted that the contents of the provisions of these Sections make it clear that the same are made to protect 'weaker sections of the society' from the exploitation of the money-lenders.

So far as Non-Banking Financial Companies are concerned, learned A.G.P. submitted that the Reserve Bank of India is entrusted with the responsibility of regulating and supervising the Non-Banking Financial Companies by virtue of the power vested in it under Chapter IIIB of the R.B.I. Act, which came into effect from 1st December 1964. Secs. 45H, 48-I, 45J, 45K, 45L, 45M, 45-O, 45-P and 45Q were initially inserted. Subsequently, by Reserve Bank of India (Amendment) Act, 1997, the provision relating to Non-Banking Financial Companies came to be introduced. Therefore, the provisions relating to N.B.F.Cs. having come to be incorporated w.e.f. 19th January 1997, Reserve Bank of India has the regulatory and supervisory powers with the following objects:

(a) to ensure healthy growth of the financial companies, (b) to ensure that these companies function as part of the financial system within the policy framework in such a manner that their existence and functioning do not lead to systematic abrasions, and (c) the q