In Brief
The Supreme Court upheld the High Court's judgment that a 1959 property transaction was a mortgage by conditional sale rather than a genuine sale. The Bhattacharyas mortgaged property to Bholanath to secure an Rs.8,000 loan, with a separate 1959 agreement stipulating the condition to reconvey. The Court held that West Bengal's Money Lenders Act, Section 37(A), validly overrides the Transfer of Property Act's requirement that mortgage conditions be in a single document, due to Presidential assent under Article 254(2). The transaction's true character as a loan-backed mortgage was evidenced by the Bhattacharyas' continued possession, tax payments, and the property's far greater value (Rs.30,000) than the loan. The appeals seeking ejectment were dismissed.
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