Agriculturist mortgagors can redeem the entire mortgage on the scaled-down debt despite a non-agriculturist purchaser's interest.

Agriculturist mortgagors may redeem the mortgage as a whole on payment of the mortgage debt scaled down under the Madras Agriculturists' Relief Act. The right of redemption under Section 60 of the Transfer of Property Act requires discharge of the mortgage on payment of the mortgage money, and that principle is not defeated because part of the mortgaged property was acquired by a non-agriculturist purchaser. The purchaser's retained amount was treated as part of the price reserved for satisfying the mortgagee, so applying the reduced debt merely preserved the statutory relief available to agriculturists without conferring an impermissible benefit on the purchaser.

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Issues: Whether the mortgagors, being agriculturists, could redeem the mortgage as a whole on payment of the scaled-down mortgage debt under the Madras Agriculturists' Relief Act, notwithstanding that the purchaser of part of the mortgaged property was not an agriculturist.

Analysis: The mortgagors sought redemption under Section 60 of the Transfer of Property Act after the mortgage debt had become liable to be scaled down under the Madras Agriculturists' Relief Act. The right of redemption under that provision enables the mortgagor, on payment of the mortgage money, to require the mortgagee to discharge the mortgage and return the mortgaged property. The amount retained by the purchaser out of the purchase price was treated as part of the price reserved for payment to the mortgagee, and if the mortgage debt was reduced, the purchaser would merely retain money that would otherwise have gone to discharge the mortgage. Allowing redemption on the scaled-down amount therefore did not confer an impermissible benefit on a non-agriculturist purchaser; it preserved the agriculturist mortgagors' statutory relief and did not alter the essential incidents of redemption.

Conclusion: The mortgagors were entitled to redeem the mortgage as a whole on payment of the debt as scaled down under the Act, and the contention that the full mortgage amount had to be paid because part of the property stood with a non-agriculturist purchaser was rejected.

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