Bank not treated as moneylender under Assam law; loan recovery suit remained maintainable without registration or licence.

A banking company carrying on regulated banking business is not a "moneylender" under the Assam Money Lenders Act, 1934 unless the statute clearly and expressly includes banks. Reading the Assam Act purposively with the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, the Supreme Court held that the State law was aimed at private moneylending, not banking institutions operating within the central regulatory regime. The bank's suit for recovery of the loan was therefore maintainable without registration or a licence under the Assam Act.

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Issues: Whether a banking company is a "moneylender" within the meaning of the Assam Money Lenders Act, 1934, and whether a suit by a bank for recovery of a loan is barred for want of registration or a licence under that Act.

Analysis: The statutory scheme of the Assam Money Lenders Act, 1934 and the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 was examined together. The definition of "moneylender" and "loan" in the Assam Act, including the exclusion for notified banks, was contrasted with the wide and regulated field of banking under the central enactment, which treats banking as a distinct business involving deposit taking, lending and other incidental financial activities under the control of the Reserve Bank of India. The Court adopted a purposive and contextual construction, holding that the legislature intended the Assam Act to regulate private moneylending and not banking institutions, especially where other State money-lender laws expressly exclude banks and the banking field falls within the Union List.

Conclusion: A bank does not fall within the purview of the Assam Money Lenders Act, 1934, and the suit filed by the respondent bank was maintainable without registration under that Act.

Ratio Decidendi: A banking company carrying on regulated banking business is not to be treated as a moneylender under a State money-lenders statute unless the statute clearly and expressly brings banks within its scope; such legislation must be construed purposively in harmony with the central banking regime.

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