Mortgage redemption depends on a subsisting debt; once paid, the security ends and land reform benefits fail.

A mortgage ceases once the mortgage money is paid, because the security and the mortgagee's right to retain possession or appropriate rents and profits end with satisfaction of the debt. Section 60 of the Transfer of Property Act confers a right of redemption only in respect of a subsisting mortgage, and Order XXXIV CPC applies only to redemption of an existing mortgage. On that basis, the mortgage was not subsisting on the date of vesting after payment in 1943, so the respondents could not claim the benefit of section 6(1)(c) of the Bihar Land Reforms Act, 1950.

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Issues: Whether a mortgage continues to subsist after the mortgagor has paid the mortgage money, so as to enable the mortgagor to invoke the right of redemption and claim the benefit of section 6(1)(c) of the Bihar Land Reforms Act, 1950.

Analysis: A mortgage is a security for repayment of money advanced, and its very basis disappears when the mortgage money is paid. In the case of a usufructuary mortgage, the mortgagee's right to retain possession and appropriate rents and profits also ends when the principal debt is satisfied. Section 60 of the Transfer of Property Act describes the mortgagor's right to redeem a subsisting mortgage; it does not keep the mortgage alive after payment. The procedure contemplated by Order XXXIV of the Code of Civil Procedure applies to redemption of an existing mortgage, not to a situation where the mortgage debt has already been discharged. The authorities relied upon did not support the proposition that the mortgage survived payment of the mortgage money.

Conclusion: The mortgage was not subsisting on the date of vesting, having ended on payment of the mortgage money in 1943, and the respondents could not obtain the benefit of section 6(1)(c) of the Bihar Land Reforms Act, 1950.

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