Order No.17                                                                                                      Dt.-06/05/2014

               The record is placed to-day before this Forum for passing final order.

               The hearing arises out of an application u/s 12 of the Consumer Protection Act 1986 filed by Dhruba Chakraborty (complainant) against Chief Manager, State Bank of India (opposite party).

.              Complainant’s case in a nut-shell is that he took loan from the O.P. Chief Manager,SBI for smooth running of his business after depositing all relevant papers vide loan A/C No. 11188437885. The complainant refunded the entire loan amount including interest accrued thereon to the O.P. Chief Manager,SBI as per stipulated terms and conditions. The said loan A/C was closed on 08/08/11 and accordingly the O.P. Chief Manager,SBI issued a closing statement in favour of the complainant on 31/08/12. Thereafter the complainant several times requested the O.P. Chief Manager,SBI verbally and in writing to return back his original documents which are lying with the O.P. Chief Manager,SBI. But the O.P. Chief Manager,SBI paid no heed to the requests of the complainant. On 22/12/12 the complainant served lawyer’s notice which was received by the O.P. Chief Manager,SBI, but the O.P. Chief Manager,SBI paid no heed. The O.P. Chief Manager,SBI is legally bound to return back the original documents to the complainant filed by him at the time of taking the aforesaid loan. Due to aforesaid activities of the O.P. Chief Manager,SBI and for not getting back the documents, the complainant has been suffering from mental agony and harassment. The complainant has prayed for recovery of his original document lying in the custody of O.P. Chief Manager,SBI, for compensation for harassment and deficiency in service and for litigation cost.

               The O.P. Chief Manager,SBI has contested the case by filing a W/V challenging the maintainability of this case on some technical grounds, but the O.P. Chief Manager,SBI has admitted that the complainant had a loan A/C with the bank which was closed on 08/08/12 and that the bank has handed over the IGR of the Title Deed and the Letter of Authority to bank’s empanelled advocate namely Smt. Subhra Saha vide letter no. DAB/ JAL/SBI/312 dt.23/09/11 for obtaining original Title Deed from the registry office and the said lawyer has been depanelled and she didn’t return the original IGR or the original Title Deed to the bank despite bank’s several requests.

POINTS FOR CONSIDERATION

1)      Is the case maintainable as alleged?

2)      Is the complainant a consumer as per Sec 2(d) of the C.P. Act 1986?

3)      Is/Was there any deficiency in service on the part of the O.P. as alleged?

4)      Is the complainant entitled to get the reliefs as prayed for? If so, to what extent?

DECISION WITH REASONS

        All points are taken up together for consideration and decision for the sake of convenience.

        Although the O.P. has challenged the maintainability of the case in their Written Version but this point was not raised by the side of the O.P. at the time of the final hearing of the case. After going through the case record we find nothing adverse against the maintainability of this case. Therefore we find and hold that this case is well maintainable as per provision of the C.P. Act 1986.

       After going through the materials on record and after due consideration of arguments advanced by the Ld.Lawyers of both sides we find that admittedly the complainant took loan from O.P. Chief Manager,SBI for smooth running of his business. Admittedly the complainant has refunded the entire loan amount including interest accrued thereon as per stipulated terms and conditions and the said loan A/C was closed on 08/08/12. Admittedly the complainant deposited the original IGR and other relevant documents(original) in the bank towards security for taking the loan and admittedly the O.P. Chief Manager,SBI didn’t return back the original documents to the complainant after closure of his loan A/C No. 1118843885. Therefore, we have no hesitation to hold that the complainant is/was a consumer of O.P. Chief Manager,SBI as per provision of the C.P. Act 1986.

          It is coming out from the W/V filed by the O.P. Chief Manager,SBI  as well as from the submission as made by the Ld.Lawyer for the O.P. Chief Manager,SBI that the bank handed over the IGR(original) receipt to their empanelled advocate namely Smt.Subhra Saha to obtain the original Title Deed of the complainant from the registry office but Smt.Subhra Saha didn’t return back either the IGR or the original Title Deed to the bank despite bank’s repeated request. In the above circumstances we are of the opinion that it is the legal as well as the moral obligation on the part of the O.P. Chief Manager,SBI  to return back the original documents deposited by the borrower(complainant) as security for the loan on borrower’s refund of the loan and the interest accrued threron. Here in our present case the O.P. Chief Manager,SBI didn’t return back the original documents to the complainant after closing of complainant’s loan A/C. It is the duty and the obligation on the part of the bank to collect the documents from the advocate to whom the bank gave the IGR to obtain the original Title Deed from the registry office and to collect the original Title Deed or the IGR from the Lawyer if the Lawyer had or had not obtained the original title deed from the Registry office and to return back the original IGR/ Title Deed and other documents to the complainant but that was not done by the O.P. and  thereby the O.P. Chief Manager,SBI is guilty for deficiency in service.

           In view of discussions made herein before as well as the admission of the O.P. Chief Manager,SBI as made in his W/V, we find and hold that the complainant is entitled to get the reliefs as specified below.

          All points are disposed of. In the  result the case succeeds.

Hence, it is

O R D E R E D

that the case is allowed on contest in part with litigation cost of Rs.2000/-(Two Thousand)only. The O.P. Chief Manager,SBI is hereby directed to handover the complainant the original documents which are lying in the custody of the bank in connection of the closed loan A/C of the complainant positively within fifteen days from the date hereof.

 The complainant do get an award of Rs.5,000/-(Five Thousand) only towards compensation for harassment, deficiency in service and suffering etc. The O.P. Chief Manager,SBI is further directed to pay to the complainant the aforesaid compensation  and the litigation cost of Rs.2000/- positively within one month from the date hereof failing which  the O.P. Chief Manager,SBI shall have to pay interest@ 8.5% p.a. to the complainant till realization of the aforesaid awarded amount and the litigation cost and the complainant shall be at liberty to realise the same through execution in accordance with law.

Let copy of this final order be supplied to the parties free of cost forthwith in terms of Sec.5(10) of West Bengal Consumer Protection Rules 1987.