RAMANUJAM, J. :- The petitioner herein had advanced a sum of Rs. 5,000/- to the third respondent herein on mortgage of his property on 14-12-1964. In enforcement of that mortgage the petitioner herein filed a suit O.S. No. 86 of 1979 on the file of the Court of the District Munsif, Arantangi, for half the amount, as per the Tamil Nadu Act, 40 of 1978, and another suit O.S. No.128 of 1981 for the balance of the amount on the file of the same District Munsif's Court, against the third respondent, and those two suits are said to be pending.

2. In the meanwhile, the debtor, the third respondent, filed an application before the Special Tahsildar (Debt Relief), Arantangi, under Sec.6 of the Tamil Nadu Debt Relief Act, 1980, (hereinafter referred to as the Act), claiming benefits under the Act and seeking a certificate of redemption of the mortgage in question. The second respondent, the Special Tahsildar, held that the debtor owned properties worth only about Rs.23,500/-, and that his annual household income was only Rs. 1,800/- In that view, he granted a redemption certificate under S.6 (2) (a) (i) of the Act. The matter was taken in appeal by the petitioner to the first respond