The main legal point established in the judgment is the entitlement of a mortgagee to be subrogated to the rights of the prior mortgagees and the limitation period for bringing a suit on the mortgage amount.

Horwill, J.

1. Defendants 1 and 3 mortgaged the suit property to the plaintiff on the 21 st July. 1924 by Ex. P-2. Prior to that mortgage, there was a mortgage by defendants 1 and 2 under Ex. P-1 a on the 24th August 1921 to one Narayana Reddi and in 1933 the mortgagee brought O.S. No. 429 of 1933 on his mortgage, impleading the plaintiff as a puisne mortgagee. A decree was passed; and on the 29th July 1936 the plaintiff paid Rs. 667-8-0 to satisfy the decree. Satisfaction of the decree was entered up on the 18th June 1937. The plaintiff then brought O.S. No. 233 of 1937 asking for a decree against his mortgagors and against the hypotheca claiming to be subrogated to the rights of the mortgagee under Ex. P-1 a of the 24th August 1921. The lower appellate Court held that he was not entitled to a decree, for his mortgagors had no right in the property whatsoever, because on the date of the mortgage in favour of the plaintiff they had parted with their interest in the property; and so the plaintiff was not a person interested within the meaning of Section 91 of the Transfer of Property Act. The lower appellate Court was inclined to hold that he was a person interested within the meaning of Section 69 of the Contract Act and would therefore be entitled to a decree for the money paid by him together with interest; but took the view that his suit was out of time. It held that Article 61 of the Limitation Act applied and that as the suit had not been brought within three years of the payment of money, it was barred by time.

2. The first contention of the appellants the legal representatives of the plaintiff) is that depite the fact that it was found in this litigation that the plaintiffs mortgagors had no right to the property on the date of the mortgage, yet the plaintiff was a person interested, because he made the payment in good faith, believing that his mortgagors had title. Many cases have been cited in support of this contention. If the mortgagors had held the property under a title that was merely voidable, there would be no difficulty, because a person who acquires a right under a transaction that is voidable has a right until the transaction is declared void. Even in cases where the mortgagor had no title, it has been held that a person who pays off money in thebelief that his mortgagors had title, has an interest in the property and is therefore entitled to redeem under Section 91 of the Transfer of Property Act. It is unnecessary to discuss this question at any length; because it is conceded by Mr. Sitarama Rao for the respondents that the plaintiff was entitled to be subrogated to the rights of the prior mortgagees when he paid off the sum of Rs. 667-8-0 on the 29th July, 1936. Reference may however be made to Maramittath Theruvil Mootha-chettiam Veettil Kelu v. Kuttiyil MachiRaniy Chekaracheppan as an authority for the position that even though a person has no title whatsoever, he may redeem if he believes in good faith that his mortgagor has title.

3. The more important question is whether the suit is in time; and that turns on the question whether, when the plaintiff became subrogated to the rights of the prior mortgagee, his right to bring a suit on the mortgage amount is deemed to have arisen on the date of the original mortgage or whether his right arose out of the decree itself, in which case he would have twelve years under Article 132 of the Limitation Act from the 29th July, 1936. There can be no doubt that the law in Madras is that when a person becomes subrogated to the rights of the mortgagee by redeeming a mortgage, he is in precisely the same position as the mortgagee and must therefore bring his suit for recovery of the sum paid by him within twelve years of the original mortgage. "That was laid down very clearly by Wallace and Madhavan Nair, JJ., in Kotappa v. Raghavayya. The leading judgment was written by Madhavan Nair, J. Wallace, J., not only agreed with Madhavan Nair, J., but in a separate judg