IN THE HIGH COURT OF MADRAS
S Ayyangar
Sutharsana Chariar And Anr.
Versus
S. Samarapuri Chettiar And Ors.
Decided On : 16 August, 1927
SALE DEED - MORTGAGE BY CONDITIONAL SALE - DISTINCTION - CONSTRUCTION OF DOCUMENTS - SURROUNDING CIRCUMSTANCES - INTENTION OF PARTIES - REDEMPTION.
Fact of the Case:
Plaintiffs filed a suit for redemption of property alleging that the transaction was a mortgage by conditional sale. The defendants contended that it was a sale with an agreement to re-purchase. The trial court decreed the suit. On appeal, the District Court reversed the decree. On second appeal, the High Court remanded the case for rehearing in the light of the observations of the Judicial Committee in the Pamur case.
Finding of the Court:
The High Court held that the transaction was a mortgage by conditional sale and not a sale and an agreement to re-convey. The court considered the surrounding circumstances, including the value of the property, the relationship between the parties, the possession of the property, and the terms of the documents. The court found that the transaction was intended to be a security for a loan and not a sale.
Issues: Whether the transaction was a mortgage by conditional sale or a sale with an agreement to re-purchase.
Ratio Decidendi: The court held that the transaction was a mortgage by conditional sale and not a sale and an agreement to re-convey. The court considered the surrounding circumstances, including the value of the property, the relationship between the parties, the possession of the property, and the terms of the documents. The court found that the transaction was intended to be a security for a loan and not a sale.
Final Decision: The High Court allowed the appeal, reversed the decree of the District Court, and restored the decree of the trial court.
Srinivasa Ayyangar, J.
1. In this case, we have heard arguments at some considerable length but before dealing with the points that arise for determination in the appeal itself, an objection to the competency of the appeal raised on behalf of the respondents may be disposed of. The objection that was taken was really two-fold. The facts relating to the objection may be very briefly stated. In the Court of first instance, before the learned Subordinate Judge, the plaintiffs obtained a decree and defendant 2 filed an appeal to the District Court. During the pendency of that appeal, defendant-appellant 2 became an insolvent and all his right, title and interest became vested in the Official Assignee of Madras, who was brought on the record as appellant 2. The appeal proceeded and the District Judge allowed the appeal and dismissed the plaintiffs action. It was thereupon that the plaintiffs preferred this second appeal. The objection that is now taken is that the real party interested in opposing the appeal and interested in the subject-matter of the appeal who is the Official Assignee at present, has not been property made a party to this second appeal at all, and secondly that if the Court should consider that he was properly made a party respondent to the appeal, the appeal had become barred by the law of Limitation when he was so made a party-respondent.
2. It is clear from a glance at the memorandum of appeal filed in this -second appeal that the name of the Official Assignee was not shown in the first instance as a party-respondent in the cause-title. The appeal itself seems to have been presented to this Court on 20th November 1925 and what we notice is that more than a year thereafter on 3rd December 1926, the name of the Official Assignee is inserted by way of correction and authenticated by the initials of the Deputy Registrar of this Court. I think there is considerable force in the argument of the learned Counsel for the respondents that the lugging in of the name of a respondent in that manner cannot properly be regarded as adding a new respondent to the appeal in the proper manner. There is also no doubt whatever that, right or wrong, the view taken by the Officer of this Court who authorized the correction was that the omission of the Official Assignee from the roll of respondents was in the nature of a clerical error, and that therefore having regard to the terms of rule 20 of the Appellate Side Rules of this Court, it was an error the correction of which the Registrar was competent to authorize. The question that therefore arises is whether in view of these facts, the true and proper view to take is whether it was merely in the nature of a clerical error that was properly allowed to be corrected by the authority of this Court entitled to do so, or whether the correction was, as contended for the respondents, tantamount to making a new party to the appeal and therefore unauthorized. One other question, of course, would also arise if the view taken should turn out to be that the Official Assignee must be regarded as having been made a party-respondent to this appeal only on 3rd December 1926, or in other words, if the view taken should be that the appeal, so far as the Official Assignee is concerned, was presented only on that date or must be so regarded, and that is the question of extension of time for filing the appeal.
3. With regard to the first of these questions, it is clear that the appellants in this case had absolutely no purpose or motive whatsoever in not making the Official Assignee party-respondent to the appeal. He was the real appellant in the Court below and a perusal of the grounds of appeal show that the appeal related entirely, if not exclusively, to matters in which the Official Assignee was directly interested. After all, an appeal is merely in law, in the nature of a petition to the Court of appeal by the party feeling aggrieved by the judgment and decree of the lower Court for the purpos
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