Present         (1)     Nisha Nath Ojha,   

                              District & Sessions Judge (Retd.)                                                                                         President

                    (2)     Smt. Karishma Mandal,

                              Member

Date of Order : 31.05.2016

                    Nisha Nath Ojha

1. In the instant case the Complainant has sought for following reliefs against the Opposite party:-

1. To direct the opposite party to deposite Rs. 3,00,000/- along with interest @ 18%.
2. To direct the opposite party to pay Rs. 1,00,000/- ( Rs. One Lakh only ) as compensation.
3. To direct the opposite party to pay Rs. 15,000/- ( Rs. Fifteen Thousand only ) as litigation costs.

2. The facts of this case lies in a narrow compass which is as follows:-

The complainant has asserted that he has two accounts in opposite party Bank. One account was in the name of complainant himself and other account was joint with his wife. The aforesaid accounts were 4057000100038761 and 4057000100011302 respectively.

The complainant has further asserted that when the complainant approached the opposite party no. 1 on 26.02.2012 for updating his passbook, then he came to know that Rs. 3,00,000/- has been wrongly withdrawn from his account. Thereafter, the complainant made complaint to opposite party no. 1 who advised him to deposit the cheque books and thereafter he deposited the cheque book with opposite party no. 1.

In Para – 5 of complaint petition it is stated “from four cheques of complainant which were stolen, the amount withdrawn from the account no. 40570001003876 was Rs. 90,000/- by cheque no. 933794 dated 11.09.2012, Rs. 90,000/- on 04.10.2012, Rs. 90,000/- on 17.10.2012 and Rs. 30,000/- on 22.10.2012 i.e. total amount of Rs. 3,00,000/- was withdrawn from the complainant’s account in four installments. ”

It has been asserted by the complainant that there is over writing on cheque and two cheques belong to other account but this fact has been ignored by the Bank.

The complainant has filed written application on 12.11.2012 to circle head of opposite party no. 1 but no action has been taken. Thereafter the complainant has filed another application addressed to Chief Minister, Bihar for redressal of his grievance as will appear from annexure – 2.

It appears from the judicial record that during admission stage the opposite party no. 1 filed Vakalatnama and when he did not filed written statement then this case was admitted and again notice was issued to opposite party no. 1 and despite that when opposite party no. 1 did not filed written statement then this case was heard exparte.

It is needless to say that all the facts have been mentioned by complainant on affidavit hence we have no option but to accept these facts which deficiently constitute deficiency on the part of opposite party no. 1.

It is true that there is allegation of complainant that Rs. 3,00,000/- have been fraudulently withdrawn from the account of the complainant without his signature but we are not in position to know about the manner in which the aforesaid cheque were disbursed. The complainant has already filed a written application to circle head but no action appears to have been taken.

However, in view of the aforesaid facts we pass following directions.

We direct the complainant to file a detail representation with the copy of the same to opposite party no. 1 to regional manager or equivalent officer of Punjab National Bank under whose jurisdiction this branch ( opposite party no. 1 ) is situated.

The aforesaid complaint must be filed within one month from the date of receipt of this order with certified copy of this order and if such application is filed then regional manager or equivalent authority shall make investigation in the matter after hearing the complainant and the concerned staff and pass appropriate order with a reason within two months from the date of receiving the aforesaid application of the complainant with certified copy of this order failing which the regional manager or concerned authority will be held responsible for non compliance of this order.

The opposite party no. 1 shall also pay Rs. 25,000/- to the complainant by way of litigation costs and compensation within the period of two months.

Thus this application stands disposed off in the light of aforesaid direction.

                             Member                                                                              President