This refers to the article by Mubashir Mufti about the relationship between borrower and the guarantor published in Greater Kashmir. The bank loan system has resulted in the trouble of thousands of people who stand third party guarantors to these loans. Some people associated with the bank believe that  dispensation of credit ensures economic development. But such credit system which lacks inbuilt and automated loan security has pushed guarantors to desperation.
Since banks are big financial institutions, borrowers are least bothered for liquidation of loans because they are not directly accountable. It is the poor guarantor who is in trouble financially as well as psychologically. Guarantors so far have not sought justice collectively. They should have known the laws which can rescue them. There are laws that safeguard the banker only because of the reasons given above.
There is no denial about the existence and applicability of the concepts, phenomenon and the laws for meaning and ramifications of Guuarantorship or alike but always over the ground and in real practice the concepts and even the packages have been experimented first and then implemented for real time use. I don’t know whether banks have exercised this empirical formula or not.  I don’t remember even, if the bank had performed the practice of public awareness campaigns through publicity for the general masses before the loan system of such type was brought into use. Had that required wide publicity been done then the post-problematic awareness campaigns would not have been there in the form of articles.
Now, we all know the weight of a guarantee-deed as, numerous suits stand filed in courts from either of the three parties, bank, borrower and the guarantor, as the condition of guarantors has become so pathetic that nobody is in a position to come to the rescue. But the bitter fact, as I know is that banks too can’t escape from the fault they have in the system of infrastructure or the delivery thereof.  Documents and deeds have their own value and validity but the moral and practical fact remains that while making any undertaking or deed there are certain more prerequisites to be taken care of. One is, to make the parties especially the guarantors  aware about the pros and cons of the Guuarantorship and not to speak of this necessity when the guarantor is an illiterate or semi-literate person.  Alas! The practice of guarantee-deed-making in our banks has been formally or informally assigned to bank employees, who take the documentation charges from the borrower and do the “needful”, then they call the guarantors through the intended borrower and make them sign on the deed. I have bitter experiences of this procedure of loan system for due to social obligations and relationships one  undergoes such ventures that too when you are ignorant or lazy towards the religious  guidelines.
In this fast advanced age banks have not explored any inbuilt foolproof system for recovery of such loans. About the lending of credit a Kashmiri saying goes, “Duen Gaw Dilawari, Huen Gaw Jadugari” meaning ‘to lend is bravery and to recover is jugglery’. But our bankers lack this jugglery!!! I don’t know whether loan-defaulters could be dealt for offense under law. I don’t know whether bank has a provision for devising its future strategy on the basis of the failure or success stories of loan recoveries.
With changing times bank needs to be more vigilant about the issue so that transactions go smooth and hassle free.
(Feedback on ahmadkashmiri@gmail.com.)

Lastupdate on : Wed, 30 Nov 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 30 Nov 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 1 Dec 2011 00:00:00 IST