Tamil Nadu

North Chennai

CC/112/2018

N.S.Srivatsa - Complainant(s)

Versus

AXIS Bank Limited Rep managing Director - Opp.Party(s)

party in person

20 Sep 2019

ORDER

 

                                                            Complaint presented on:  14.09.2018

                                                               Order pronounced on:  20.09.2019

 

DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM, CHENNAI (NORTH)

2^nd Floor, Frazer Bridge Road, V.O.C.Nagar, Park Town, Chennai-3

 

PRESENT:  TMT.K.LAKSHMIKANTHAM, B.Sc., B.L., DTL.,DCL, DL & AL -  PRESIDENT

 

TMT.P.V.JEYANTHI B.A., MEMBER - I

 

FRIDAY  THE 20^th  DAY OF SEPTEMBER 2019

 

C.C.NO.112/2018

N.S.Srivatsa,

No.77/26, 3^rd Floor,

2^nd Gujji Street,

V.O.C. Nagar,

Chennai – 600 102.

                                                                                        …..Complainant

 ..Vs..

1.Axis Bank Limited,

 Represented by its  Managing Director,

“Axix House”, C-2, Wadia International Centre,

Pandurang Budhkar Marg, Worli,

Mumbai – 400 025.

 

 

2. Axis Bank Pvt. Ltd.,

Represented by its Manager,

144, Moore Street, Parry’s Corner,

George Town,

Chennai – 600 001.

 

.....Opposite Parties

Counsel for Complainant                       : Party in Person

 

Counsel for  opposite parties                   :  M/s.R.Palani Kumar Ramesh,

                                                                    R.Venkata Varathan

 

O R D E R

 

BY PRESIDENT TMT.K.LAKSHMIKANTHAM, B.Sc., B.L., DTL.,DCL, DL & AL

            This complaint is filed by the complainant u/s 12 of the Consumer Protection Act.1986.

1.THE COMPLAINT IN BRIEF:

          The complainant  is a  permanent resident of Chennai who was residing at a hotel in Mannady area. The complainant had visited a branch of Axis Bank Private Limited, situated at No.144, Moore Strret, Parry’s Corner, Chennai – 600 001 for the purpose of opening a savings bank account. The complainant had submitted all his  KYC documents including his Aadhar card along with 10,200 INR in cash to the branch executive Mr.Karthik and was issued a savings account Instakit. The complainant was not issued any physical receipt/counterfoil for the 10,200 INR cash submitted by him to Mr.Karthik and was instead taken to Manager, Mr. Magesh who supposedly acted as a witness for the receipt of 10,200 INR cash.  The complainant was assured that the instakit with savings account bearing A/c.No.918010006643284 would be activated the very next day.  On 14^th June 2018, the complainant had received SMS on his registered mobile number from Axis Bank informing that his savings account bearing A/c. 918010006643284 has been successfully activated. The complainant was able to login to his bank account. On 19^th June 2018 the complainant who withdrew all the money in his possession from his bank had visited the respondent’s branch for the purpose of cash deposit. The complainant was guided by the executive at the branch to use the cash deposit machine instead of the cash deposit counter. Upon the deposit of 76,000 INR, the machine which had swallowed the complainant’s entire amount, issued a transaction error and system failure message without any issue of counterfoil. The complainant who attempted to withdraw cash from his savings account held with the respondent in an ATM, received a transaction error intimating that he was prohibited from withdrawing any money from the savings account. The complainant had contacted the respondent’s customer service who had intimated that there was a Debit  Freeze imposed on his savings account. The complainant was informed by the respondent that the savings account No.918010006643284 was not activated yet due to the KYC issue with the Aadhar card presented by the complainant. The Manager had informed the complainant that correcting the Addhar details was the only way to proceed towards resolving the issue or that the complainant can request for account closure and collect a Demand Draft for the amount in the account. The complainant who did not have the registered mobile number of his Aadhar card which is required to make corrections, with no other option had decided to close his account with the respondent and collected the Demand Draft. On the noon  of 12^th of July, the complainant’s Axis Bank account with the respondent bearing Ac.No.918010006643284, was closed and a Demand Draft for a value 49,995 INR was issued to the complainant. This led to great mental depression for the complainant. Hence this complaint.

2. WRITTEN VERSION OF THE  OPPOSITE PARTIES IN BRIEF:

          On 12.06.2018 the complainant approached the 2^nd opposite party for opening a Saving Bank Account and after submission of the application form, Aadhar card and relevant documents the 2^nd opposite party officials informed to the complainant that after due verification of the Adhar card details the account will be activated. Before opening of the account by verifying the identity and address of the customer by complying with the know your customer (KYC) guidelines of RBI is mandatory. The complainant’s biometric parameters i.e address provided on the authentication is not found matching with Aadhar information. It is pertinent to note that the above rejection was informed to the complainant and Aadhar centre. The complainant who has not co-operated with the 2^nd opposite party and submitted account closure request on 06.07.2018. The same has been processed  by the 2^nd opposite party and the account closure has been processed and completed as per the Bank’s  internal procedures. The account of the complainant has been closed on 12.07.2018 and the available balance lying in the account of the complainant was remitted to the complainant vide DD No.172941 dated 12.07.2018 for amount of Rs.49,412.10. Therefore there is no deficiency in service on the part of the opposite parties. Hob’ble Forum may be pleased to dismiss the complaint.

3. POINTS FOR CONSIDERATION:

          1. Whether there is deficiency in service on the part of the opposite parties?

          2. Whether the complainant is entitled to any relief? If so to what extent?

4. POINT NO :1

          The complainant had submitted all his KYC documents including Aadhar card along with Rs.10,200/- cash for opening a savings bank account at 2^nd opposite party’s bank and opened an account on 12^th  June 2018. Savings bank account No A/c.No.918010006643284 was activated on 14th June. The amount deposited by the complainant  was credited as Rs.10,250/-  i.e. 50/- extra credited and  on  20.06.2018 an amount of  Rs.76,000/- was deposited in cash by the complainant  and the amount was credited in his account which is reflected in Ex.A1 bank statement of the complainant . As per the complaint, the complainant while depositing the amount of Rs.76,000/- in cash through ATM there was a failure in A1transaction and the complainant  took much pain by reporting and contacting the 2^nd opposite party  to bring out the money on record.

05. When the complainant  tried to withdraw the amount from his SB Account through ATM of the opposite party  he came to know that his account was freezed  due to KYC issue and mismatch  of his address. The complainant  complains about the irresponsible activities of  the 2^nd opposite party.  His repeated contacts failed and also his mobile number was blocked by them. The complainant  was advised by the 2^nd opposite party  to go to the nearest Aadhar centre to include the entire address mentioned in UDHAI Portal in order to activate and remove the debit freeze. The mistake found was that the Aadhar Card presented by the complainant   did not have a name “Faruknagar” due to space constraint. Finally, complainant came to the conclusion of closing his account because he could not withdraw money from his account for his urgent requirements. Interactions with the Nodal Officer through e-mail are reflected in Ex.A2 series in the month of August 2018. The fact of complainant’s visit to the branch office and submission of the account closure request form to the manager under the assurance of issuing  Demand draft for the entire amount by the bank  is not denied by the 2^nd opposite party.

06. The complainant had opened the account in the month of June 2018 due to the above stated reasons and he was forced to close the account. He submitted the closure request on 06.07.2018 and the account was closed on 12.07.2018. The demand draft was given for the remaining balance as on that day. The complainant’s  KYC document was submitted at the earliest point of time and having noticed  all the factors, the 2^nd opposite party  had opened a savings account  in their bank and also ATM Card was issued based on that and also Ex.A5 intimation of SMS alert was sent to him and also the complainant’s mobile number was registered.  Ex.A6 is the email received by complainant from opposite parties. These formalities are all done for opening an account and also 2^nd opposite party had received considerable amount in savings account. Hence  the verification on deemed to have been found correct and considered by the 2^nd opposite party.

 07. Ex.B2 to Ex.B4 are the  Adharr card of the complainant  and the biometric verification showing the missing of “Farukkhnagar”.  Bank circular in Ex.B1 indicates that Aadhaar  is Mandatory and it reads as “ Aadhaar will be taken as identity proof or as address proof or both.” Hence Aadhaar would have taken as identity proof due to the presence of the photo in Aadhaar. Other address proof should have been sought for by the 2^nd opposite party  at the time of opening the account itself or should have accepted other relevant document for address proof  if any. There is no pre-condition posed by the complainant to open an account immediately. Therefore the 2^nd opposite party should have waited till they receive the required documents for opening an account for the complainant or else given assurance to open an account until they are satisfied with the provided documents. Instead after the receipt of the documents from the complainant 2^nd opposite party had permitted the complainant   to open an account and allowed him to credit the amount and issued ATM card for the purpose of withdrawal and suddenly freezed the account in the midway which resulted in sufferings to the complainant during his financial requirement which resulted in deficiency in service on the part of 2^nd opposite party.   By allowing the complainant to open an account and permit to credit some amounts in saving bank account first and then to freeze the account also amounts to unfair trade practice. Therefore, it is concluded that there is deficiency in service and unfair trade practice on the part of the 2^nd opposite party which is also not monitored by the 1^st opposite party. Therefore, the complainant is entitled to get the compensation for the same from the opposite parties. 

 

08.POINT NO:2

 Saving bank account was opened in the month of June 2018 and the account closure was in the month of July, 2018. Even then the complainant could not receive the demand draft for the entire amount as promised by 2^nd opposite party.  The complainant had to visit the branch frequently due to communication failure through different mode. The complainant’s complaint towards the bank that he missed a high paying job interview in New Delhi is not substantiated  and also Ex.A4 documents shows only his treatment and there is no correlating factor with the incident and the ailments . However, the sudden immobilization of his money in the bank would have made him suffer a lot to his day to day activities and also mental agony and stress due to the financial constraint because of freezing the account has to be accepted as stated in the complaint. Hence it would be appropriate to order Rs.30,000/- as compensation in total for mental agony, deficiency in service and unfair trade practice, besides a sum of Rs.3,000/- for costs.                     

In the result, the complaint is partly allowed. The opposite parties jointly or severally are directed to pay a sum of Rs.30,000/-(Rupees thirty thousand only) to the complainant as compensation for mental agony, deficiency in service  and unfair trade practice besides a sum of Rs.3,000/- (Rupees three thousand only) for costs.

 

 

The above amount shall be paid to the complainant within 6 weeks from the date of receipt of the copy of this order failing which the above said amount shall carry 9% interest till the date of the payment.

          Dictated to the Steno-Typist transcribed and typed by her corrected and pronounced by us on this 20^th day of September 2019.

 

MEMBER – I                                                                PRESIDENT

LIST OF DOCUMENTS FILED BY THE COMPLAINANT:

Ex.A1 dated NIL                     Bank Statement

Ex.A2 dated 15.08.2018                   Interactions with Web Nodal Officer

Ex.A3 dated NIL                     Corporate Office Address, Axis Bank

Ex.A4 dated         06.07.2018                   Medical Documents validating Back pain

Ex.A5 dated NIL                      Intimidating SMS received from the opposite      parties

Ex.A6 dated 17.12.2018                   Unsolicitated E-mail received from opposite party

LIST OF DOCUMENTS FILED BY THE OPPOSITE PARTIES:

 

Ex.B1 dated NIL                      Bank Circular

 

Ex.B2 dated NIL                      Aadhar Card

 

Ex.B3 dated NIL                      UDAI Updated Aadhar Card

 

Ex.B4 dated NIL                      Bank Report                                                                           

 

MEMBER – I                                                               PRESIDENT