Complainant the Zaffarwal Multipurpose Co-operative Society Ltd, through its Secretary Mr.Karam Singh has filed the instant complaint against Gurdaspur Central Co-operative Bank Ltd on the ground that complainant is having its saving account share money in the name of society in the Gurdaspur Central Co-operative Bank Ltd, Branch Dhariwal and as such the complainant falls under the definition of consumer under the Consumer Protection Act,1986. He has further alleged that few days back on 14.9.2012 the Manager of the opposite party has deducted an amount of Rs.37,000/- from the account of the complainant society without any instructions from the society or its Managing Committee, when the complainant went to the Bank, he found that the amount detailed above has been illegally deducted by the bank. Complainant enquired from the bank regarding this, they failed to give any satisfactory reply and told the complainant that some amount was due towards the complainant which has been deducted without the consent of the complainant and any instructions. No notice or intimation has been given to the complainant or its Managing Committee by the opposite party nor any consent has been taken by the bank before deducting these amount. He has next alleged that opposite party has no right to deduct any amount from the account of the complainant without his consent and there is deficiency in service on the part of the opposite party. Complainant society through its Secretary has given a notice to the opposite party on 19.9.2012 and called his explanation regarding the deduction of the money of the society and requested the opposite party to deposit the deducted amount of Rs.37,000/- with interest in the account of the society but they failed to do so, they did not give any reply to the notice. Complainant lastly prayed that opposite party be directed to credit the amount of Rs.37,000/- in the account of complainant with interest @ 16% from the date of debit till its realization and the opposite party may also be directed to pay the amount of Rs.50,000/- for deficiency in service and Rs.20,000/- as litigation expenses.

2.      Notice of the complaint was issued to the opposite parties  who appeared and filed its written statement taking preliminary objections that the  present complaint is not maintainable in the present Forum and is without any merits and without any cause of action; the complainant has failed to set out any deficiency in service or unfair trade practice on the part of the opposite party;  the Hon’ble Forum has got no jurisdiction to entertain the present complaint as the jurisdiction of the Civil Courts is barred in these type of matters under Section 55 and Section 82 of the Punjab Co-operative Societies Act, 1961 and the complainant has filed a false complaint by misstating the actual facts and has further mislead the Hon’ble Forum. On merits, it is admitted that complainant is having a saving account with the opposite party. It is denied that on 14.9.2012 the opposite party had deducted an amount of Rs.37,000/- from the account of the complainant without any instructions from the complainant, as a matter of fact the said amount has been deducted towards the share money of the complainant as per the rules and with the consent of the complainant and it is also denied that the amount has been deducted by the opposite party without the consent or instructions of the complainant. All other averments made in the complaint have been vehemently denied and lastly the complaint has been prayed to be dismissed.

3.       Complainant tendered into evidence affidavit of Sh.Karam Singh Secretary Ex.C1, along with the other documents exhibited as Ex C2 to Ex C5.

4.        On the other hand, the opposite parties tendered into evidence affidavit of Saroj Bala, Branch Manager Ex.OP1.

5.   We have carefully gone through the pleadings of both the parties; arguments advanced by their respective counsels and have also appreciated the evidence produced on record with the valuable assistance of the learned counsels for the purposes of adjudication of the present complaint.

6.    From the pleadings and evidence on record we observe that the present dispute pertains to the suo-moto debit/ deduction of Rs.37,000/- from the complainants’ account with the OP Bank in the absence of any debit-authority (with the OP Bank) on the simple plea that the amount was utilized for the issuance of ‘Share Certificates’ the purchase of which had fallen due for further ‘lending’. However, the OP bank has not contested nor rebutted the complainant society’s resolution Ex.C2 declaring that the existing Share Certificate purchase has been sufficient even for an additional Loan of Rs.24.70 Lacs and the OP Bank had inadvertently deducted Rs.37,000/- in its SB A/c with them and thus the Secretary stood authorized to file the present complaint. The OP Bank has not produced any cogent evidence justifying the debit/ deduction of Rs.37,000/- and instead have taken refuge in the fortifying sections 55 & 82 of the Punjab Co-op. Societies Act, 1961 that bar the jurisdiction of the civil courts little realizing that Section ‘3’ of the CPA legislates its provisions as remedies in addition to the existing ones. We find that the amount has been deducted by the bank without any instructions from the Managing Committee. Even no notice or intimation was given to the complainant before deducting this amount. Hence, we find this ‘uncalled-for’ act of the OP Bank duly dressed-up as an ‘infringement’ of the complainants’ consumer rights and thus initializing an adverse ‘award’ under the Act.         

7.       In the light of the all above, we partly allow the present complaint and ORDER the OP Bank to refund/ pay back the wrongly deducted amount of Rs. 37,000/- to the complainant along with the Savings Bank interest besides to pay them Rs.10,000/- as litigation cost cum compensation for having caused undue harassment etc.; within 30 days of the receipt of the copy of these orders otherwise the aggregate awarded amount shall attract interest @ 9% P.A. from the date of the orders till actually paid.

8.       Copy of the order be communicated to the parties free of charges. After compliance, file be consigned to records.     

            (Naveen Puri)

                                                                                President   

Announced:                                                        (Jagdeep Kaur)

May, 19 2015                                                              Member

*MK*