District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission ,Faridabad.
Consumer Complaint No.365/2020.
Date of Institution: 08.10.2020.
Date of Order: 11.07.2022.
Gaurav Gupta S/o late Shri Mahender Pal Gupta Address:- House o. 1916, Ground Floor, Sector-7, Block-D, Faridabad, Haryana – 121006, mobile No. 9810686171.
…….Complainant……..
Versus
Axis Bank Limited (through its concerned manager) CIN: L65110GJ1993PLC020769, Regd. Office address: Trishul 3rd floor, Opposite Samartheshwar Temple Law Garden, Ellisbridge, Ahmedabad, Gujarat – 380006. Email Id:
NPC1 5th floor “Gigaplex”, Plot No. 1 T.5, MIDC Airoli Knowledge Park, Airoli, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra – 400708 Email Id: nodal. officer @ axisbank.com.
Other Address 2:
Axis Bank, Plot No. 40, Main Market, Sector-7, Faridabad, Haryana (121006).
…Opposite parties……
Complaint under section-12 of Consumer Protection Act, 1986
Now amended Section 34 of Consumer protection Act 2019.
BEFORE: Amit Arora……………..President
Mukesh Sharma ………Member.
PRESENT: Sh. Akash Bhadana , counsel for the complainant.
Sh. J.S.Yadhuvanshi , counsel for opposite party.
ORDER:
The facts in brief of the complaint are that the complainant had applied for the credit card in October 2015 and the opposite party had issued him the credit card No. 4641-1800-0036-3363 in the month of October 2015 in his name. After the issuance of credit card the complainant had faced several problems relating to the illegal finance charges and late payment charges. However, when the complainant raised its concern & complaint about the same to the opposite party, they refunded the same to the complainant form time to time. The complainant had preferred the present complaint under the extraordinary circumstances, when the world was witnessing unprecedented times due to the spread of Covid-19 pandemic. India had not been able to remain unshealthed form the spread of the contagion. To deal with the emergent situation the Government of India and the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India had taken certain stringent measures. The country had been under nationwide lockdown since 24.03.2020. The courts were also taking only urgent matters and the physical functioning of the courts were majorly restrained due to which lawyers were suffering through their hard times. In order to provide certain reliefs to the citizens, RBI had issued a notification No. RBI/2019-20/186 dated 27.03.2020 which provides for a covid-19 regulatory package whereby RBI had permitted to grant a moratorium of three months to all the loans accounts on payments of all the installments falling due between March 01,2020 to May 31, 2020. Thereafter, a second notification No. RBI/2019-20/244 dated 23.05.2020 comes out stating that the moratorium period
was extended to 31.08.2020. In April 2020, the opposite party had charged late fees of Rs.700/- alongwith GST of Rs.126/- and upon same compounded interest of Rs.150.67/- (including GST) was also charged in April 2020 as excess interest. Hence, an amount of Rs.976.67 was charged extra by opposite party in the month of April, 2020. Further to dismay more, in May 2020 the opposite party had charged late fees of Rs.700/- alongwith GST of Rs.126/- and upon same compounded interest of Rs.209.46/- (including GST) was also charged in May 2020 as excess interest. Further in the same month an amount of Rs.4,605/- was first debited as moratorium debit adjustment, however to a greater surprise, the same was again credited in the same statement which means the moratorium adjustment of Rs.4,605/- was not given to the complainant for the said month which he was supposed to receive in the same month. Hence, an amount of Rs.5,640.46 was charged extra by the opposite party in the month of April 2020. For not paying the due amount during moratorium period, the credit card of the complainant was also blocked by the opposite party. To dismay more, in June 2020, the opposite party had charged compounded interest of Rs.350.37 (including GST) as excess interest. Further in the same month an amount of Rs.2,572/- was first debited as moratorium debit adjustment, however to a greater surprise, the same was again credited in the same statement which means the moratorium adjustment of Rs.2,572/- was not given to the complainant for the said month which he was supposed to receive in the same month. Further, upon consistent follow up calls, the opposite party had provided a reversal of Rs.700+126 for the late payment including GST for the month of May, 2020 only. Hence, an amount of Rs.2,922.37/- minus Rs.826 = Rs.2096.37 was charged extra by the opposite party in the month of June, 2020. Further to dismay more, in July 2020 the opposite party had charged late fees of Rs.700/- alongwith GST of Rs.126/- and upon same compounded interest of Rs.363.83 (including GST) was also charged in
July 2020 as excess interest In this month, no adjustment for moratorium was provided by the bank. Hence, an amount of Rs.1,189.83 was charged extra by the opposite party in the month of July, 2020. The complainant was also informed by the bank that moratorium was not applicable now hence the charges were being reflected in the statement but upon continuous persuasion the complainant was again asked to apply for moratorium. In August 2020, the opposite party had charged late fees of Rs.700/- alongwith GST of Rs.126/- and upon same compounded interest of Rs.559.32 (including GST) was also charged in August 2020 as excess interest. In this month, no adjustment for moratorium was provide by the bank. Hence an amount of Rs.1,385,32 was charged extra by the opposite party in the month of August,2020. The complainant received an amount of Rs.63,000/- as fees in his saving bank account maintained ith the opposite party, but the opposite party created a lien of Rs.56,422.06/- on the said amount against the total due amount on loan. Since the complaint was not allowed to withdraw the amount from his savings account so in this concern, the complainant also wrote a complaint via email dated 13.08.2020 and over call with the customer care, the complainant was informed to submit a minimum amount of Rs.7,955/- needs to be deposited with the bank. So the complainant deposited the said amount on 13.08.2020. The said amount of Rs.7,955/- was also illegally and forcefully taken by the opposite party by creating an illegal lien on the credited in the saving bank account of the complainant maintained with the opposite party. As stated earlier also, the opposite party had already confirmed over the email dated 17.08.2020 that no late fees or charges would be levied during the period of moratorium. In September 2020 the opposite party had charged compounded interest of Rs.490/- (including GST) was also charged in September 2020 as excess interest. In this month, no adjustment for moratorium was provided by the bank. Hence, an
amount of R.490/- was charged extra by the opposite party in the month of September,2020. The aforesaid act of opposite party amounts to deficiency of service and hence the complaint. The complainant has prayed for directions to the opposite party to:
a) provide reversal of Rs.11,599/- towards the illegal finance charges, late fees, compound interest or other charges for the month of April 2020, May 2020, June 2020, July 2020, August 2020 & Sept. 2020.
b) not charge any late fees, compounded interest, GST or any other illegal charges from Sep. 2020 onwards till the pendency of this matter.
c) Award pendentlite and future interest at the rate of 36% p.a. on the above stated amount of Rs.11,599/- with intrest @ 36% p.a. from 27.03.2020 upto the date of filing the complaint in favour of the complainant and against the opposite party.
d) pay Rs. 1,00,000/- as compensation for causing mental agony and harassment .
e) pass an order/recommendation to Reserve Bank of India to cancel the financial license of the opposite party for violating the notifications issued by the RBI.
c) pay Rs. 5,000 /-as litigation expenses
2. Opposite party put in appearance through counsel and filed written statement wherein Opposite party refuted claim of the complainant and submitted that the complainant had not come with clean hands and suppressed the true and material facts. The true facts were that the complainant applied for the issuance of the credit card with the opposite aprty and pursuant to the request of the complainant, the opposite party issued credit card No. 4641-1800-0036-3363 in the
month of October 2015 and at the time of availing the said Credit Card, the complainant had given declaration to the effect that he had agreed that would abide by the terms of the contract. It was submitted that the RBI had issued Notification NO. RBI/2019-20/186 dated 27.03.2020 which provide for a Covid-19 regulatory packages whereby the RBI granted moratorium period for three months and the complainant opted the said moratorium benefit vide letter ated 31.03.2020. It was further submitted that RBI issued second notification dated 23.05.2020 vide which the moratorium period was extended upto 31.08.2020. It was further submitted that to avail the benefit of the extended moratorium period, the customer will have to re applying through 3. The parties led evidence in support of their respective versions.
4. We have heard learned counsel for the parties and have gone through the record on the file.
5. In this case the complaint was filed by the complainant against opposite parties – Axis Bank Limited with the prayer to : a) provide reversal of Rs.11,599/- towards the illegal finance charges, late fees, compound interest or other charges for the month of April 2020, May 2020, June 2020, July 2020, August 2020 & Sept. 2020. b) not charge any late fees, compounded interest, GST or any other illegal charges from Sep. 2020 onwards till the pendency of this matter. c) Award pendentlite and future interest at the rate of 36% p.a. on the above stated amount of Rs.11,599/- with interest @ 36% p.a. from 27.03.2020 upto the date of filing the complaint in favour of the complainant and against the
opposite party. d) pay Rs. 1,00,000/- as compensation for causing mental agony and harassment . e) pass an order/recommendation to Reserve Bank of India to cancel the financial license of the opposite party for violating the notifications issued by the RBI. c) pay Rs. 5,000 /-as litigation expenses.
To establish his case the complainant has led in his evidence Ex.CW1/A – affidavit of Gaurav Gupta, Ex.C-1 & C2 – letters, Ex.C-3 – email, Ex.C-4 to C-8 – NEO Credit Card Statement, Ex. C-9 - Scrreenshot print of lien amount of Rs.56,422,06, Ex.C-10 – email dated Aug.13,2020, Ex.C-11 – NEO Credit Card Statement,, Ex.C-12 – Call History Details,, Ex.C-13 to C-25 – NEO Credit Card Statement, Ex.C-26 – application for objection on accepting written statement filed beyond a period of 45 days, Ex.C-27 & 28– letters.
On the other hand counsel for the opposite parties strongly agitated and opposed. As per the evidence of the opposite parties, Ex.RW1/A – affidavit of Shri Rakesh Kumar (DM), Axis Bank Ltd., Sector-7, Faridabad, Annexure ‘A’ – letter dated March 27,2020, Annexure ‘B’ - Covid-19 Regulatory Package – Moratorium on payment of term loan instalments/credit card dues/deferment of interest on working capital facility terms and conditions.
6. In this case, issue occurred due to hidden charges on the used amount in the credit card of the complainant. The complainant argued at length and also submitted that he is ready to pay the principal amount i.e. the used amount on the respective dates alongwith interest of 9% p.a.
7. During the course of arguments, counsel for the complainant who is an Advocate stated at Bar that he is never used the credit card last 2 years from today. On the other hand, counsel for opposite party argued at length and submitted calculation sheet vide Annx. X which is total amounting to Rs.57,674.73. The counsel for the opposite party has also placed on record NEO Credit Card Statement vide Annx.Y which shows that the credit card was used regularly even on May, July & August, 2021.
8. After going through the evidence led by both the parties, the Commission is of the opinion , that the complainant is directed to pay the principal amount alongwith 9%p.a. from the respective dates and the complaint is allowed with no order as to costs. This is public money of the people. We can not disbursed this blindly. So, in the interest of justice, the complainant is directed to pay the principal amount i.e the used amount on the respective dates alongwith interest @ 9%p.a. Compliance of this order be made within 30 days from the date of receipt of copy of this order. Copy of this order be sent to the parties concerned free of costs. File be consigned to the record room.
Announced on: 11.07.2022 (Amit Arora)
President
District Consumer Disputes
Redressal Commission,Faridabad.
(Mukesh Sharma)
Member
District Consumer Disputes
Redressal Commission, Faridabad.
