ORDER BY HON’BLE PRESIDENT- MR. P.K. PADHI:

                                                                                                   JUDGMENT

            Complainant has filed this consumer complaint U/s.35 of C.P. Act, 2019 seeking following reliefs;

            “Direct the opposite party to return the gold ornaments or Rs.2,00,000/- in exchange of gold ornaments and pay Rs.1,00,000/- towards mental agony, Rs.10,000/- towards cost running to the office of the opposite party and Rs.50,000/- cost of litigation”.

            The brief fact of the complainant is that, the complainant has availed gold loan from opposite party by mortgaging 22 carat gold ornaments and his account No.39535623995 for 11.68 grams of gold ornaments and another account No.39513917131 for 28.62 grams of gold ornaments. The complainant availed first gold loan of Rs.50,000/- on 03.5.2017. On 19.7.2020 for the first time complainant got telephonic message from opposite party to come to bank with Rs.16,000/- for renewal of above said gold loan without fail. In obedience to such message complainant met opposite party bank on 20.7.2020 and paid Rs.16,000/- and obtained a receipt. Then and there the complainant was told by opposite party bank to renew the loan account as the value of gold being increased at that point of time to get something more closing the previous loan and complainant agreed to such proposal of opposite party and has been provided with a loan of Rs.78,000/- vide loan account No.39513917131 out of which Rs.50,000/- being paid towards liquidation of previous loan dtd.03.5.2017 and rest Rs.28,000/- placed in his account. Due to Covid-19 pandemic, the financial condition of the complainant was very miserable and he could not be able to pay the installment amount in time. Complainant was astonished by hearing that his mortgaged gold ornaments were sold in auction without any notice of auction to complaint so also no notice has been send to complainant regarding the installment amount, so the complainant was unaware of the installment dues.   

            Opposite party filed his written version stating as under;

            The complainant availed gold loan by mortgaging 11.67gm. gold ornaments vide gold loan account No.39535623995 and another 28.62gm. gold ornaments vide gold loan account No.39513917131 and the said loan amount was disbursed of Rs.34,000/- & Rs.78,000/- respectively on dtd.20.7.2020 on the basis of agreement the complainant was ready to pay 7% P.A. and the entire loan along with interest is to be repaid on dtd.20.7.2021. The complainant intentionally did not follow the terms and conditions of the loan agreement and the complainant did not pay a single pie to the opposite party. The opposite party compelled to send the several demand notices to the complainant on dtd.05.10.2021 & dtd.25.10.2021 through Regd. Post dtd.11.10.2021 & 03.11.2021 respectively. In spite of that the complainant did not repay the outstanding loan amount in time. Therefore the opposite party finding no other alternative has published the public notice for auction of gold ornaments of the complainant along with other defaulters on dtd.17.11.2021 and subsequently the gold ornaments were auctioned by performing all the formalities as per the norms of the bank.

            It is revealed from the records and affidavit that the opposite party has sold out the gold without giving proper notice and short notice which is clear deficiency in service the notice for auction was issued on 03.11.2021 and scheduled to be held on 19.11.2021 and immediately the same has been sold putting even without public notice or any paper publication loss to the complainant as such giving short notice of less than 15 days amounts to deficiency in service on the part of opposite party.

We therefore direct the opposite party to pay the cost of 11.68gm. &  28.62gm. (total 41.30gm.) of gold ornaments (at the present market rate as on the date of payment) and deduct the loan amount and refund the rest amount to the complaint. We impose compensation of Rs.20,000/- for mental agony and Rs.5,000/- towards cost of litigation.

            The opposite party has auctioned the gold ornaments with lesser price than the market value and did not give any chance/or opportunity to complainant to participate in the process of auction for which we held the then Manager to be responsible and the opposite party may recover the award from the Officer/Manager at fault.