In Brief
A seller executed a sale deed for agricultural land for Rs. 5,000, with a separate agreement promising reconveyance if the buyer repaid the amount. The buyer obtained further loans from the seller, increasing total debt to Rs. 7,224. When repayment was not made by the agreed date, the buyer obtained revenue mutation in his favour. The seller later sued for redemption, claiming a mortgage relationship. The Supreme Court held that a mortgage by conditional sale requires the reconveyance condition to be in the sale deed itself, not a separate document. Since the sale and reconveyance agreement were separate, it was not a mortgage. The sale became absolute upon non-payment, extinguishing the seller's redemption right. The appropriate remedy would have been specific performance, not redemption.
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