In the Court of the
Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Unit -I, Kolkata,
8B, Nelie Sengupta Sarani, Kolkata-700087.
CDF/Unit-I/Case No. 393/2011
1) Samir Kumar Kundu,
39/2A, Baburam Bhosh Lane,
Kolkata-5, P.S. Jorabagan. ---------- Complainant
---Versus---
1) Chairman / CEO, Corporate Office,
Bajaj Finance Ltd., 4th Floor Survey,
208/1-B, behind Weikfield IT Park,
Viman Nagar, Pune-411014.
2) Manager, M/s. Bajaj Finance Ltd.,
24, Park Street, Anuj Chamber, 4th Floor,
Kolkata-16, P.S. Park Street. ---------- Opposite Parties
Present : Sri Sankar Nath Das, President.
Dr. Subir Kumar Chaudhuri, Member
Smt. Sharmi Basu, Member
Order No. 13 Dated 20/12/2012.
Smt. Sharmi Basu, Member.
In the instant case o.p. no.1 is carrying on business dealing with loan under hire purchase scheme and o.p. no.2 is a licensee of aforesaid o.p. no.1.
In a nutshell, the case of the complainant is that he gave his consent to proposal offered by a representative of o.p. no.2 to avail of one of their services under an EMI scheme for purchasing some consumer durables.
Complainant has stated that for entering into the aforesaid scheme a loan account no.4100-CD000-59863 was allotted to the complainant by the o.p. no.2 and a down payment of sum of Rs.21196/- was made on 25.4.10 by the complainant and the balance amount of Rs.39444/- was paid by 8 EMI( @ Rs.4993/- and complainant has already confirmed the delivery of the aforesaid items. But notwithstanding complainant’s objection in respect of o.ps. vexatious claim by mentioning an unrelated loan account no.4100-36097, the said company did not carry out the due diligence exercise to examine the veracity of their claim and instead of addressing complainant’s series of complaints in this regard, o.ps. remained silent and on the contrary served two successive legal notices dt.22.1.11 and 10.2.11 causing serious damage to the reputation and integrity of the complainant in the society. After receiving those legal notices he wrote two letters simultaneously dt.28.2.11 and 17.3.11 to the representative of o.p. no.1 and o.p. no.2 and copy endorsed to Dy. Governor RBI, Central Office Mumbai for redressal of his complaint.
Thereafter, in spite of repeated requests of the complainant to verify the authenticity of the alleged loan account no.4100-36097 against complainant’s name, the o.ps. have uploaded the name of the complainant in the CIBIL site against the fictitious loan account no.4100-36097 without any prior intimation to him or giving him an opportunity of being heard and as per the complainant as a result of appearing complainant’s name in the CIBIL site as a ‘hardcore defaulter’ he has been deprived of various other facilities available to him in the capacity of a senior bank official during the period from Jan. 2011 to till date, putting him in an ignominious situation affecting a serious mental agony and physical breakdown on the verge of his retirement losing credibility to the institution where he has rendered 39 long years of unblemished service.
Complainant has also stated that o.ps. relentless pursuit to tarnish complainant’s image has gone so far as to confirm a falsified claim as an accurate one, in response to query from RBI in reference to the complainant’s letter dt.28.2.11 and 17.3.11 and intimated “Credit Information Bureau of India Limited” (CIBIL) accordingly. Hence the case was filed by complainant with the prayer contained in the petition of complaint.
O.ps. had entered their appearance in this case by filing w/v and denied all the material allegations labeled against them and interalia have stated that due to technical fault o.ps. wrongfully claimed from the complainant the amount for the loan account vide no.4100-36097 and they sent apology letter to the complainant for the aforesaid incident and o.ps. prayed for dismissal of the instant case.
Decision with reasons:
We have gone through every nook and corner of all the documents brought before this Forum by all the parties and heard in toto from ld. counsels of both the parties and it is observed by this Forum that admittedly the o.ps. wrongfully claimed from the complainant a huge amount for the loan account of another person and moreover, the complainant received legal notices on 22.1.11 and 10.2.11, whenever, he already repaid his total due amount towards his own loan account vide no.4100-CD000-59863 before the date of receiving the first legal notice dt.22.1.11. Thereafter, the complainant wrote two letters intimating the aforesaid facts to the o.ps. It is really surprising to us and obviously it is not at all desirable that after receiving the aforesaid letters dt.28.2.11 and 17.3.11 of the complainant to the o.ps., to verify the authenticity of the alleged loan account vide no.4100-36097; the o.ps. uploaded the name of the complainant in the Credit Information Bureau of India (CIBIL) against the fictitious aforesaid loan account, Without any prior intimation to him or giving him an opportunity of being heard. In this regard, we are strongly of the opinion that the aforesaid wrongful action of the o.ps., being service provider towards complainant/consumer tantamount to unfair trade practice and such act of unfair trade practice of the o.ps. in our society is highly condemnable and there must be an end of it and this cannot go any step further and it is beyond doubt that for that performance of o.ps., the complainant was not only humiliated and degraded in society but has to suffer tremendous mental agony and physical and mental harassment. Moreover, it is crystal clear that the act of the o.ps. tantamount to unfair trade practice of the o.ps. being service provider to consumer / complainant and it is a social crime which affects the society at large and punitive action needs be taken and we hold that o.ps. are found liable for carrying on unfair trade practice u/s 2(1)(r) of the COPRA, 1986 and complainant is entitled to relief.
Hence, ordered,
That the petition of complaint is allowed on contest with cost against both the o.ps. Both the o.ps. are jointly and/or severally directed to take necessary action to delete the name of the complainant from the Credit Information Bureau of India (CIBIL) and also directed to pay Rs.2,00,000/- (Rupees two lakhs) only as compensation for tremendous mental agony, physical and mental harassment and humiliation of the complainant and also to pay litigation cost of Rs.10,000/- (Rupees ten thousand) only and also to pay a sum of Rs.7,00,000/- (Rupees seven lakhs) only as punitive damage for such act of unfair trade practice, out of which Rs.2,00,000/- (Rupees two lakhs) only is payable to complainant and balance amount of Rs.5,00,000/- (Rupees five lakhs) only is payable to Consumer Welfare Fund, West Bengal. All the aforesaid amount should be paid by o.ps. through Demand Draft or Pay Order within 45 days from the date of communication of this order, i.d. an interest @ 9% shall accrue over the entire sum till realization of the award as orderd.
Complainant is at liberty to file execution case before this Forum as per provision of the COPRA,1986, if the aforesaid order is not complied by o.ps. within the stipulated period.
Supply certified copy of this order to the parties free of cost.
