Registered sale deed construed as genuine conveyance; oral challenge to alleged loan security failed for want of proof.

A registered sale deed, read as a whole, was treated as a genuine conveyance passing title and not as a sham security for a loan. Although oral and circumstantial evidence may be used to challenge the apparent character of a document, the party alleging a different real transaction must discharge that burden with cogent proof. A belated amended plea, unsupported by documentary material, and the failure of the defendants to enter the witness box justified an adverse inference. A refund-on-dispossession clause was only a protective term and did not change the nature of the deed.

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Issues: Whether the registered sale deed was a genuine conveyance of title or a sham transaction executed merely as security for a loan, and whether the defendants had discharged the burden of proving that the document did not reflect the real nature of the transaction.

Analysis: The document was a registered sale deed and, read as a whole, contained the usual recitals of a conveyance of ownership, including transfer of title, possession and the vendor's covenant. Although oral evidence may be admissible to show the true character of a document where its nature is in dispute, the party asserting that the apparent sale was a security transaction had to prove that plea by cogent evidence. The defendants' amended plea, unsupported by documentary proof, was not enough. Their failure to examine themselves at the trial stage, despite admitting their signatures and the surrounding business relations, justified an adverse inference. The indemnity stipulation regarding refund of price on dispossession did not alter the character of the deed, since it had to be read with the rest of the instrument and operated only as a protective clause.

Conclusion: The transaction was a real sale and not a sham loan security; the defendants failed to rebut the registered deed's effect, and the suit for possession ought to have been decreed in favour of the appellant.

Ratio Decidendi: A registered deed of sale, construed as a whole, passes title under section 54 of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882, and may be displaced by oral and circumstantial evidence only if the party alleging a different real transaction discharges the burden of proof with convincing material; a mere indemnity clause or belated inconsistent plea is insufficient.

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