STATE CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION,

HARYANA PANCHKULA

                                                         Date of Instituion:06.03.2023

              Date of final hearing:28.04.2023

                                                Date of pronouncement: 28.04.2023

Revision Petition No.32 of 2023

IN THE MATTER OF

Axis Bank Limited, Branch Ballopur, Ground Floor, Khewat/ Khatauni No.08, Khasra No.0-10, Post Office Lalru, District SAS, Mohali.

                                                                                      .…. Petitioner.

Through counsel Ms. Deepika Bansal, Advocate

Versus

1.      Harmeen Kaur W/o Shri Jaspreet Singh Saluja, D/o Shri Harpreet Singh, R/o House No.101/1605-1606, Baldev Nagar, Ambala City.

2.      Amazon India Registered Office-Brigade Gateway, 8^th Floor, 26/1. Raj Kumar Road, Malleshwaram (W) Bangalore, Karnataka India-560055, through its Authorized Signatory.

3.      Vseller India (Seller) at second/Third Floor, Laxmi Nagar, Opposite Business Fair, Near Namrata Hospital Kataragam Surat, Gujrat-395004-IN, through its Authorized Signatory.

Respondents.

CORAM:   S.P. Sood, Judicial Member.

Present:-    Mr. Shivoy Dhir, counsel for the petitioner.

O R D E R

PER: S.P. SOOD, JUDICIAL MEMBER:

                    Delay of 61 days in filing of the present revision petition is hereby condoned for the reasons stated in the application for condonation of delay.

2.                Present Revision Petition is preferred against the order dated 22.12.2022 in Consumer Complaint No.410 of 2022, passed by the learned District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Ambala, vide which the present petitioner-opposite party No.3 (‘OP’) was proceeded against ex-parte.

3.                The arguments have been advanced by Mr. Shivoy Dhir, learned counsel for the petitioner. With his kind assistance the entire revision petition had also been properly perused and examined.

4.                While unfolding the arguments Mr. Shivoy Dhir, learned counsel for the petitioner emphasized that on 22.12.2022, when the complaint was fixed before learned District Commission, Ambala, learned counsel for present petitioner-OP No.3 could not appear for want of any information regarding pendency of the complaint itself because the summons issued by the learned commission were handled by an employee who resigned from the organization  shortly after this development and had failed to bring to the notice of the Branch Manager or other employees of the Bank that summons in respect of the said complainant were duly served upon the Bank. Hence, no effective and timely action could be taken by the Branch i.e. present petitioner-OP No.3 and when present petitioner-OP No.3 (Bank) came to know about the pendency of the case before learned District Commission, present petitioner-OP No.3 was already declared ex-parte by the learned District Commission vide order its dated 22.12.2022. He further argued that non-appearance of present petitioner-OP No.3 before the learned District Commission was neither intentional nor willful and further prayed that order dated 22.12.2022, passed by learned District Commission may be set aside and present revision petition may be allowed.

5.               In view of the above submissions and careful perusal of the entire record, it is true that ex-parte proceedings were initiated before learned District Commission against the present petitioner-OP No.3, but, it is golden principle of law that proper opportunity should be afforded to the concerned party before deciding the case on merits. The complainant is not going to suffer any irreparable loss if the present petitioner-OP No.3 is afforded an opportunity to defend themselves before the learned District Commission. So, in these circumstances, orders dated 22.12.2023, passed by learned District Commission, Ambala, vide which ex-parte proceedings initiated against OP No.3- present petitioner is set-aside and the present revision petition is allowed. Let, the present petitioner-OP No.3 be afforded an opportunity to appear before learned District Commission and to file its reply as well as to lead its evidence etc. thereafter, the complaint be decided on merits.

6.                The petitioner is directed to appear before the learned District Commission, Ambala on 12.05.2023 for further proceedings.

7.                This revision petition has been disposed of without issuing notice to the respondent with a view to imparting substantive justice to the parties and to save the huge expenses, which may be incurred by the respondent as also in order to avoid unnecessary delay in adjudication of the matter. In this regard, reliance can be placed on a Division Bench judgment of Hon’ble Punjab and Haryana High Court rendered in Batala Machine Tools Workshop Cooperative Versus Presiding Officer, Labour Court, Gurdaspur (CWP No.9563 of 2002) decided on June 27, 2002.

8.                Application(s), if any, is disposed off in terms of the aforesaid order.

9.                A copy of this order be provided to all the parties free of cost as mandated by the Consumer Protection Act, 2019. This order be uploaded forthwith on the website of the Commission for the perusal of the parties.

10.              File be consigned to record room alongwith a copy of this order.

Pronounced on 28^th April, 2023

                                                                                                            S.P. Sood                                                                                                                             Judicial Member                                                                                                                 Addl. Bench