The provisions of section 7D of the Assam Money Lenders' Act, 1934 shall be attracted only if it is shown that the person is carrying on regular course of money-lending business.

This second appeal is by the plaintiff. On 8. 7. 72, the defendant borrowed a sum of Rs. 8.103/- from the plaintiff by executing a hand note. As the defendant failed to repay the amount the suit was filed. The defendant denied the execution of the hand note and also stated that the plaintiff was a money lender by profession and the suit was not maintainable as he was not a registered money lender under the provisions of the Assam Money Lenders' Act, 1934, for short the 'Act'. The learned trial Court framed as many as six issues and held that the hand note was duly executed and that the plaintiff was not a regular money lender. Accordingly, the suit was decreed, as prayed for. In appeal, the learned lower appellate Court held that the plaintiff being a regular money lender, non-registration under the provisions of the Act has disentitled him from filing the suit. In other words, the suit is hit by section 7D of the Act. The appeal was allowed by setting aside the judgment and decree of the learned trial Court.

2. The only point -which needs my consideration is whether the suit is hit by section 7D of the A-;t. The said section runs as follows :

"7 D. Suit not to proceed without registration certificate, etc.-

No suit for the recovery of a loan advanced by a money­lender shall proceed in a civil Court until the Court is satisfied that he holds valid registration certificate or that he is not required to have a registration certificate by reason of the fact that he does not carry on the business of money-lending."

I may refer to section 2 (1) of the Act, which runs as follows:

"(1) "Money lender" means a person who in the regular course of business, advances a loan as defined in this Act and shall include, subject to the provisions of section 6, the legal representatives and the successors in interest whether by in­heritance, assignment or otherwise of the person who advanced the loan and money-lending shall be construed accordingly :

It may be mentioned that the above definition was amended in the year 1969 with effect from 1. 9. 69. and prior to that amendment, the definition was as follows :

"(1) 'Money-lender' means a person including any Company or Association or body of individuals, whether incorporated or not, who grants a Joan."

3. Mr. De, learned counsel for the appellant, has stated that the finding of the lower appellate Court that the plaintiff appellant was carrying on money lending on regular course of business, is perverse and not based on evidence at all. On the other hand, Mr. Laskar, learned counsel for the respondent, has drawn my attention to the evidence of the plaintiff (PW 1), and the writer of the hand note, PW 2 and submitted that the evidence would clearly show that the plaintiff was a regular money lender. In this connection. Mr. Laskar has drawn my attention to a specific statement in cross-examination of PW 2 wherein the witness stated that he knew the plaintiff for the last 25/30 years and during that period he wrote about eight to ten hand notes. He has further stated that PW 1 used to lend money to various persons. In cross-examination, PW 1 stated that he has a rice mill, but used to give money occasionally to different persons and most of them used to refund the amount and in some cases as they defaulted suits were filed.

4. The question whether the plaintiff-appellant is a money-lender or not in terms of section 2 (i) of the Act is a question of fact, and this Court can disturb the said finding if it is found to be perverse. From the above evidence on which my attention was drawn by the learned counsel for the respondent, I cannot come to the finding that the plaintiff-appellant was doing money-lending business regularly. The learned trial Court has considered the entire evidence on record and has noted that the plaintiff has got other source of income from his own private taxi, rice mill and landed property. So, the finding of the learned lower appellate Court that the plaintiff was carrying on a regula

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