DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM
SOUTH 24 – PARGANAS,
AMANTRAN BAZAR, BARUIPUR, KOLKATA-700 144
C.C. CASE NO. 74 OF 2019
DATE OF FILING: 17.6.2019 DATE OF JUDGEMENT: 27.9.2019
Present : President : Ananta Kumar Kapri
Member : Jhunu Prasad & Jagadish Chandra Barman
COMPLAINANT : Ashim Roy Bardhan, son of Hari Sadhan Roy Bardhan, of A8-202, Sugam Park, Narendrapur, Kolkata-103.
O.P/O.Ps : 1. ICICI Bank, Garia Branch, 404 E, NSC Bose Road, Kolkata, Pin-700 047. P.S Narendrapur. 5
2. Head Branch Banking, ICICI Bank, ICICI Bank Towers, Bandra Kurla Complex, Mumbai-400051.
3. Managing Director, ICICI Bank, ICICI Bank Towers, Bandra Kurla Complex, Mumbai-400051.
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JUDGMENT
Sri Jagadish Chandra Barman, Member
The facts leading to the filing of the instant case by the complainant may be summarized as below:
The complainant is a retired person and holds a Savings Bank Account no. 627501502792 in the ICICI Bank, Garia Branch , 404E, NSC Bose Road, P.S Narendrapur , Kolkata, West Bengal. The complainant found 8 transactions done in his above mentioned account at 2.27 a.m on 9.9.2017. 3 transactions by Mobikwik value of Rs. 15000/-, one transaction by Pay TM worth of Rs.2500/-, 3 transactions by Airtel Value of Rs.15000/- and one transaction by Airtel worth of Rs.5000/-. Total transactions are worth of Rs.37,500 ( Thirty Seven Thousands Five Hundred only).
Thereafter, the complainant complained from his telephone to the Manager of ICICI Bank at 8.49 a.m on September 9,2017 and informed him in details about 8 transactions. Complainant also informed to the Customer Care Service Center bearing no.1800-10-38-181 and the complaint was registered under SR 492585795 at 9.07 a.m. The complainant not only complained to the ICICI Bank, but also to other organizations like Cyber Crime Department, Kolkata Police on 14.9.2017; Head Branch, Banking ICICI on 19.9.2017; the Managing Director of ICICI Bank on 22.9.2017; Head Service Quality ,ICICI Bank on 26.9.2017; P.S Bansdroni on 3.10.2017 ; Banking Ombudsman on 4.10.2017 and RBI on 11.1.2018. All the complaints were made by the complainant to get back his money of Rs.37,500/-. But the complainant did not get back his money from O.P-1 Bank and ,therefore, the complainant has filed the instant case praying for refund of Rs.37,500/-, compensation and cost etc. Hence, this case.
Notices of the case have been served upon the O.Ps . Inspite of such services, none of the O.Ps has made any appearance in the case and ,therefore, the case is heard exparte against them.
POINTS FOR DETERMINATION
- Are the O.Ps guilty of deficiency in service as alleged by the complainant?
- Is the complainant entitled to get relief or reliefs, if any, as prayed for?
EVIDENCE OF THE PARTIES
Petition of complaint is treated as evidence of the complainant vide his petition dated 12.9.2019.
DECISION WITH REASONS
Point no.1 & 2 :
It is mentioned by the complainant in his evidence that 8 online transactions were done at 2.27 a.m on 9.9.2017 and Rs.37,500/- was withdrawn from the savings account of the complainant . The complainant prayed to the authorities on the stipulated date i.e 9.9.2017 to get back his money. He also mentioned that he did not involve in this transaction, whereas his money of Rs.37,500/- has been deducted from his account. On the other side, the ICICI Bank has sent him a message being SR 492587274 which states, “Disputes for INR 17,500/- and 20,500/- on account of 627501502792 has been declined as the transaction was authenticated with 3D Secured PIN”.
It is to be seen now whether there is any deficiency in service on the part of the O.P-1 Bank. To ascertain deficiency in service we have to take into consideration some normal aspect of online transactions. In case of online transaction one OTP is required to be sent to the account holder by the bank in his registered mobile and after having such OTP, when the account holder returns the OTP to the Bank, the transaction becomes complete. At the same time, the bank is also required to maintain the record of OTP sent to the account holder and this has been so laid down by the Reserve Bank of India.
Coming to the facts of the instant case, it is found that the bank has not been able to produce any record to prove that OTP was sent to the complainant before the transaction was complete. 3 text messages of O.P-1 bank have been filed on record by the complainant and the same are marked as Annexure 1,2 and 3. On perusal of these text messages it is found that the message was given to the complainant by the Bank on 9.9.2017 and these messages are relating to the withdrawal of money from the account of the complainant and the available balance of the complainant lying in his account. Such kind of message is given to the account holder only after the transaction is complete. We are not concerned with these type of messages. The OTP message is to be given to the account holder before the transaction is complete. We do say here that the bank has not been able to produce any OTP message to the registered mobile of the complainant. Negligence on the part of the Bank to send OTP message to the complainant before the transaction is complete is nothing but deficiency in service on his part and the complainant has certainly sustained heavy loss due to such negligence of O.P-1 Bank. He i.e the complainant is entitled to relief and the reliefs are accorded as hereunder.
In the result, the case succeeds .
Hence,
ORDERED
That the complaint case be and the same is decreed exparte against the O.P-1 with a cost of Rs.10,000/- and dismissed exparte against the rest of the O.Ps.
O.P-1 is also directed to refund a sum of Rs.37,500/- to the complainant with simple interest @6% p.a from the date of transaction i.e 9.9.2017 till full realization thereof.
O.P-1 is directed to pay Rs.10,000/- as compensation to the complainant for harassment and mental agony sustained by the complainant.
All the amounts should be paid within a month of this order, failing which the compensation amount, cost amount and the refund amount as referred to above will bear interest @10% p.a till full realization thereof.
Registrar-In-Charge of this Forum is directed to send a copy of the judgment free of cost at once to the parties concerned by speed post.
I / We agree
Member Member President
Dictated and corrected by me
Member
