In Brief
The Supreme Court examined whether a 1953 deed transferring land for Rs.700 with a ten-year reconveyance clause was a mortgage by conditional sale or a sale with option to repurchase. The High Court had characterized it as an absolute sale, but the trial and appellate courts held it to be a conditional mortgage. The Court held that the deed was a mortgage by conditional sale based on: the substantial disparity between land value (Rs.3,500) and consideration (Rs.700); language indicating conditional transfer ("repay," "return"); the inordinately long ten-year reconveyance period; and the established debtor-creditor relationship. The Court reversed the High Court's order and allowed the appellant's redemption suit.
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