Within the meaning of Section 100 of the Transfer of Property Act, a charge:

A charge is not a mortgage. In Abdul Jabbar Sahib, the Supreme Court held that section 100 does not import section 59’s mortgage-creation formalities, and an instrument creating a charge is not required by that provision to be attested. Accordingly, it is not proved through the special mandatory-attestation requirement applicable to an attested mortgage; ordinary proof rules apply. Registration may nevertheless be required under the Registration Act when the instrument creates the relevant interest. The application of simple-mortgage rights and remedies “so far as may be” does not equate the two modes of creation or proof.

Current law: In Cosmos Co-operative Bank (2025), paragraph 57 reaffirmed the larger-bench Abdul Jabbar distinction and questioned a later contrary reading that automatically imported section 59 into creation of a charge. Registration questions still require attention to the actual instrument and applicable registration law.