TOBA TEK SINGH, Oct 27: Scores of small businessmen have expressed their concern over a ‘strange order’ issued by the district officer (revenue) with powers as district registrar in which he had directed his department not to make entry of any equitable mortgage in the revenue record.

The order has provided for a full mortgage.

As a result of this order millions of rupees will not only be payable to the revenue department by all those whose entries had already been made in the record after registration of equitable mortgage executed between banks and borrowers, but new mortgage will only be possible when full registration fee will be paid by traders considering their running finance as loan amount.

Businessmen told the press that the legal mortgage was being executed between traders and banks for obtaining running finance facility and it was provided by banks on yearly basis to their account holders who were bound to deposit their daily income with banks. They said the running finance facility could never be termed as loan.

They said markup against regular loans was much less and already high on running finance.

The traders said after implementation of the recent order, extra expenditure on the registration of mortgage would be a burden on them as a result they would earn nothing after paying markup and high registration fee.

They said: “There is a clear permission in Property Act of 1982 that where a mortgage by deposit of titled deeds is to be created in favour of the banking company, the same may also be created by an entry in the Record of Rights against the entry relating to such immovable property.”

They urged the district nazim and the chief minister to look into the matter and get this ‘anti-trader order’ withdrawn.