Sathish Ninan, J.

1. Does a memorandum of acknowledgment of mortgage executed on the very date of the creation of mortgage by deposit of title deeds, require registration?

2. The denial of a decree as against the 2nd defendant and on the mortgage, in a suit for recovery of money due to a Bank under a loan transaction, is under challenge.

3. Defendants availed a credit facility from the plaintiff-bank on execution of necessary documents. The plaint schedule property was equitably mortgaged by the 2nd defendant to secure the facility. Since the amounts were not repaid in terms of the loan agreement, the bank instituted the suit for recovery of the amounts due. The 1st defendant remained ex parte. The 2nd defendant contended that he is a stranger to the transaction, that he has not signed any documents nor availed any facility from the plaintiff. The creation of the mortgage was disputed.

4. The court below found that the signatures of the 2nd defendant in the loan documents Exts.A1, A2, A3, A4, A9 and A10 differs from his admitted signatures. It was also found that Ext.A9 letter acknowledging deposit of title deeds, was not registered. Accordingly it was held that the plaintiff