Bishwanath Prasad Singh vs Rajendra Prasad & Anr

The Supreme Court addressed the issue of whether a transaction labeled as a sale deed could be recharacterized as a usufructuary mortgage under the Bihar Money Lenders Act, 1974. The Court held that the deed of sale executed on 24.6.1977 was indeed a valid sale and not a mortgage, affirming the lower courts' decisions that the respondents' suit was not maintainable. The Court emphasized that the remedy for the respondents was to seek specific performance, which they failed to do within the statutory period, thus upholding the High Court's dismissal of the appeal.