The short question for determination in this Second Appeal is whether the document Exhibit B-1 was an outright sale with an agreement to reconey, or a mortgage by conditional sale as defined in section 58 (c) of the Transfer of Property Act. The view of the Courts below was that it was a mortgage by conditional sale ; hence the defendant, the aggrieved party, has filed this Second Appeal.

The plaintiffs’ case was briefly the following. The suit properties are situated within the municipal limits of Thanjavur, and belonged to one Kaliaperumal- Pillai, the undivided father of the plaintiffs, and his younger brother Krishnaswami. They borrowed amounts from one Janaki Ammal and in settlement of these debts the suit document, Exhibit B-1, dated 18th April, 1939, was executed, ostensibly as a sale deed, but, in essence, it was only a mortgage. Janaki Animal died shortly before the suit, and before her death, she appointed the defendant as her executor, to manage her estate, and the defendant is in management of the suit properties. The plaintiffs’ father died fifteen years ago, and the plaintiffs have succeeded to his estate by survivorship. The plaintiffs filed the suit for re