Haryana

Ambala

CC/38/2020

Sunder Lal - Complainant(s)

Versus

GM SBI - Opp.Party(s)

Rajesh Sharma

05 Jul 2022

ORDER

 BEFORE THE DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION, AMBALA.

 

                                                                      Complaint case no. :     38 of 2020

                                                          Date of Institution :     01.02.2020

                                                          Date of decision     :     05.07.2022.

         

Sunder Lal age about 75 years son of Shri Manak Ram resident of H.No.1084/1, Kaith Majri, Ambala City.  

                                                                             ……. Complainant.

                                      Versus

1.       General Manager, State Bank of India, Local Head Office, Sector 17-B, Chandigarh-160017.

2.       A.G.M State bank of India, Head Branch, Court Road, Ambala City-134003.

3.       Branch Manager, State Bank of India Motor Market, G.T.Road, Ambala City-134003.

4.       Manager SBI Main Branch, 106, The Mall Road, Ambala Cantt.  

 

                                                                     ….…. Opposite Parties.

Before:        Smt. Neena Sandhu, President.

                   Smt. Ruby Sharma, Member,

Shri Vinod Kumar Sharma, Member.

 

Present:       Shri Rajesh Sharma, Advocate, counsel for the complainant.

Shri U.S.Chauhan, Advocate, counsel for the OPs.

 

Order:        Smt. Neena Sandhu, President.

Complainant has filed this complaint under Section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Act’) against the Opposite Parties (hereinafter referred to as ‘OPs’) praying for issuance of following directions to them:-

1. To pay or credit Rs.40,000/-, in the account of the complainant alongwith interest @ 18% per annum w.e.f 10.07.2019, till its realisation.  
2. To pay Rs.50,000/-, as compensation for the mental agony and physical harassment suffered by the complainant.
3. To pay Rs.11,000/-, as litigation costs.
4. Any other relief which this Hon’ble Commission may deem fit.               

2.                Brief facts of the case are that the complainant is having a saving account No.31833190129 with the OP No.3 and he is also using ATM card on the said account. On 10.07.2019, complainant was under shock due to unfortunate death of his grandson in rail accident and on that day he withdrew Rs.10,000/- through his cousin from the abovesaid bank account by using ATM card. On 29.07.2019, after completing last rites of his grandson, complainant went to the OP No.3 to update his passbook. There he came to know that Rs.40,000/-, has been debited from his account without his knowledge and consent and the said amount was transferred from his account to account No.5103720225428083,0000011547332557 and 011547332557 of Kulbhushan Singh at 04292 ATM Switch centre from ATM Machine, Shri Manji Sahib Gurudwara on 10.07.2019 at about 10.41 AM. Complainant did not receive any message on his registered mobile number from the Ops regarding withdrawn of Rs.40,000/-, from his account. Complainant immediately made a complaint to OP No.3 and sent intimation to Superintendent of Police, Ambala regarding withdrawn of money from his account without his knowledge and consent. On 21.08.2019, in charge of police station Ambala City requested the OP No.4 for providing the CCTV footage of ATM Machine, Shri Manji Sahib Gurudwara on 10.07.2019 at about 10.41 AM but vide letter dated 17.09.2019, OP No.4 refused to provide the CCTV footage to the police by saying that images are not available. Complainant sent reminder to OP No.3, but it instead of resolving his grievance gave a formal reply. On 24.09.2019, incharge of police post No.4, Ambala City made a request to Financial Software & Systems (p) Limited, working for an under OPs for providing CCTV footage of the ATM machine, Shri Manji Sahib Gurudwara, on 10.07.2019 from 10:30 AM to 11:00 AM. But the OPs failed to provide the CCTV footage to the police which shows that the employees of the OPs are involve in the matter. Complainant also filed a complaint to the Superintendent of Police Ambala on 30.09.2019, regarding the said incident. On the instructions of SP, Ambala, the police of P.S. Ambala City registered an FIR no.409 dated 15.10.2019 under Section 420 IPC.  Complainant also filed a complaint before Ombudsman Chandigarh on 19.10.2019, regarding the said incident, but of no use. By not refunding the amount of Rs.40,000/-, the Ops have not only committed deficiency in service but are also indulged into Unfair Trade Practice. Hence, the present complaint. 

3.                Upon notice, OPs appeared and filed written version, raised preliminary objections with regard to jurisdiction, locus standi and concealed the true and material facts etc.  On merits, it is stated that complainant is having saving account No.31833190129, with the OP No.3 but answering OPs are not aware regarding the usage of ATM card either by the complainant or somebody else, as using the ATM card is the total discretion of the card holder. The complainant himself has violated the contractual terms because he had given details of his ATM card to somebody else. Thus the bank cannot be held liable in case of any financial loss. Any transaction that takes place on the instructions of the actual holder of the card is deemed to be done by the owner and nobody else can be held liable. Complainant has wrongly alleged that an amount of Rs.40,000/- had been debited from his account without his knowledge and consent. A message related to transaction of Rs.40,000/-was successfully delivered on the registered mobile number of the complainant. In case, complainant should have challenge the transaction regarding withdrawal of Rs.40,000/- from his account, on receiving the message but he did not do so. The request made by the police regarding supply of CCTV footage. The answering OPs vide letter dated 17.09.2019, informed the police that as per internal arrangement all the ATM are being maintained by an outsourced agency FSS and the footage was to be provided by them and the OPs email the agency and the available images have already been provided to the police.  Rest of the allegations levelled by the complainant were denied and prayer has been made for dismissal of the present complaint filed by the complainant against them with special costs.

4.                Learned counsel for the complainant tendered affidavit of complainant as Annexure CW1/A along with documents Annexure C-1 to C-12 and closed the evidence of the complainant. On the other hand, learned counsel for the OPs tendered affidavit of Ms. Madhura Sharma, Deputy Manager, State Bank of India, Haryana Motor Market, Ambala City, as Annexure OP/A alongwith document Annexure OP-1 and closed the evidence on behalf of OPs.

5.                We have heard the learned counsel for the parties and have also gone through the record very carefully.

6.                 Learned counsel for the complainant has submitted that on 10.07.2019, complainant withdrew Rs.10,000/- from his bank account by using his ATM card, through his cousin. On 29.07.2019, complainant visited the Bank to up-date his passbook and he shocked to know that on 10.07.2019 at about 10:41 AM, an amount of Rs.40,000/- was transferred from his account, to the account of some unknown person.  Complainant never received any message on his registered mobile number from the OPs regarding withdrawal of Rs.40,000/-, from his account. Complainant immediately intimated the Superintendent of Police regarding withdrawal of amount, from his account, without his knowledge and consent.  In-charge of Police Station, Ambala City asked the OPs and Financial Software & System (p) Ltd., which was working for an on behalf of OPs, for providing the CCTV footage of ATM Machine located at Shri Manji Sahib Gurudwara, of dated 10.07.2019, from 10:30 AM to 11:00 AM, but they failed to provide the same.

7.                On the contrary, learned counsel for the OPs has submitted that complainant himself has admitted the factum of handing over the ATM Card and sharing of PIN Number with his cousin, for withdrawal of Rs.10,000/-, on 10.07.2019 and by doing so, he violated the contract. Bank always send message on the registered mobile number with regard to each and every transaction done by the customer. Message related to transaction of Rs.40,000/- done on 10.07.2019, at about 10:41 AM, was delivered to the complainant on his registered mobile number, as is evident from the SMS Log Book Record, Annexure OP-1. After receiving the message, complainant could have informed the Bank immediately about the said alleged transaction but no such step was taken by the complainant. He further submitted that as per SMS Log Book record, on 10.07.2019, complainant received four messages from the Bank, out of which two were promotional messages and remaining messages were related to the transaction and all the messages were successfully delivered within time. Complainant himself was careless in handling his ATM Card, for which he cannot blame the Bank.

8.                It is an admitted fact that on 10.07.2019, complainant withdrew Rs.10,000/-, from his account, by using his ATM Card, through his cousin. Meaning thereby, complainant handed over the ATM Card and shared the PIN Number with his cousin, to withdraw the said amount from ATM Machine.  Complainant has pleaded that on 10.07.2019, an amount of Rs.40,000/- was transferred from his account to the account of some unknown person from the ATM Machine installed at Shri Manji Sahab Gurudwara, without his knowledge and consent and in this regard, he did not receive any message on his registered mobile number from the OPs. It may be stated here that no transaction can be done unless the user of the card was in physical possession of the Card and know the PIN Number, without this the ATM card simply could not have been used. Meaning thereby, on 10.07.2019, either complainant himself or somebody else on his behalf done the transaction. From the perusal of SMS Log Book Record, Annexure OP-1, it is apparent that OPs sent the message with regard to the said transaction on the registered mobile number of the complainant, whereas no document has been produced by the complainant to prove that he did not receive the message regarding the said transaction on his registered mobile number, as such, the version of the complainant is falsified. Be that as it may the complaint filed by the complainant is devoid of merits, consequently, we dismiss the same. The Parties are left to bear their own costs. Certified copy of this order be supplied to the parties concerned, forthwith, free of cost as permissible under Rules. File be indexed and consigned to the Record Room.

Announced on: 05.07.2022.

 

 

 

 

          (Vinod Kumar Sharma)  (Ruby Sharma)               (Neena Sandhu)

              Member                         Member                       President

 

 

 

Present:       Shri Rajesh Sharma, Advocate, counsel for the complainant.

                   Shri U.S.Chauhan, Advocate, counsel for the OPs.

 

 

Vide our separate detailed order of even date, the present complaint has been dismissed. File be consigned to Record Room, after due compliance.

Announced on:05.07.2022.

 

 

 

          (Vinod Kumar Sharma)  (Ruby Sharma)               (Neena Sandhu)

              Member                         Member                       President