BEFORE THE DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM, PATIALA.

                                                Complaint No.CC/09/945 of 11.11.2009 

                                                Decided on:          30.9.2011

Ms.Gurpreet Kaur age 26 years d/o Sh.Kuljit Singh R/o H.No.103, Street No.1-A, Guru Nanak Nagar, Patiala.

                                                                   -----------Complainant

                                      Versus

1.                 HDFC Bank Ltd., Branch Office Leela Bhawan Market, Patiala through its Branch Manager,Sanjeev Jindal

2.                 Sanjeev Jindal, Branch Manager HDFC Bank Ltd., Branch Office Leela Bhawan Market, Patiala.

3.                 Axis Bank Ltd., Branch Office Leela Bhawan Market, Patiala through its Branch Manager.

4.                 Branch Manager of Axis Bank Ltd. Branch Office Leela Bhawan Market, Patiala.

                                                                        --------------Ops.

                                      Complaint under Section 12 of the

                                      Consumer Protection Act.

                                      QUORUM

                                      Sh.D.R.Arora, President

                                      Sh.Amarjit Singh Dhindsa, Member

                                      Smt.Neelam Gupta, Member

Present:

For the complainant:     Sh.Amit Jindal, Advocate

For ops No.1&2:            Sh. Sanjay Khanna, Advocate

For ops No.3&4:           None.         

                                         ORDER

D.R.ARORA, PRESIDENT              

          The complainant is maintaining her saving bank account No.01161000115669 with HDFC Bank Limited, branch office Leela Bhawan Market,Patiala i.e. op no.1 and is also enjoying the facility of the ATM.

2.       On 1.8.2009, the complainant made a use of the ATM for withdrawing Rs.15000/-.ATM card was installed which was accepted by the ATM but the ATM failed to dispense the amount. The ATM had shown the withdrawal of the amount. At this the complainant approached ops no.1&2 and disclosed about the ATM having not dispensed the amount who assured to look into the matter.Ops No.1&2 failed to respond for a period of 2-3 days. When again the complainant approached ops no.1&2 they failed to pay any heed to her request. When the complainant obtained the statement of account she was surprised to see that an amount of Rs.15000/- had been debited from her account. The statement of account also showed an amount of Rs.15000/- to have been debited from her account on 11.8.2009 although she had not operated ATM on 11.8.2009.

3.       The complainant on 14.8.2009 wrote ops no.1&2 regarding the aforesaid matter and also lodged the complaints No.MOHO 12513, MOHO 13059 and MOHO 13844 telephonically who instead of looking into the matter wrote letters dated 15.9.2009 and 24.9.2009 to the complainant having disclosed that the complainant had withdrawn the amount of Rs.15000/- from the ATM of Axis Bank on 11.8.2009 and that the ops no.1&2 had no concern with the issue.

4.       The complainant got ops no.1&2 served with the legal notice through her counsel Sh.Amit Jindal, Advocate and who sent the reply on 28.10.2009 having denied the averments made in the notice.

5.       It is also averred that ops no.1 and 4 failed to supply the statement of account of the ATM for 1.8.2009 and 11.8.2009 and who further failed to enquire into the matter by examining the footage of the CC TV installed in the ATM room and thus, their act amounted to a deficiency of service and accordingly the complainant  approached this Forum through the present complaint brought under Section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act,1986( for short the Act)  for a direction to the ops to pay her the compensation in a sum of Rs.50,000/- on account of the harassment and the mental agony experienced by her at the hands of the ops; to pay her Rs.11,000/- as the costs of the litigation and to further provide Rs.30,000/- with interest @24% per annum w.e.f.1.8.2009.

6.       On notice, the ops appeared and filed their written versions, ops no.1&2 having filed their written statement separately while ops no.3&4 filed their written version separately.

7.       In the written statement filed by ops no.1&2 they have not denied the fact that the complainant is holding his saving bank account No.01161000115669 maintained with them in their branch at Leela Bhawan Market, Patiala and enjoying the facility of the ATM but it is denied if the complainant had made a use of the ATM on 1.8.2009 and the ATM failed to dispense the amount of Rs.15000/- to be withdrawn by the complainant. It is averred that the complainant had used the ATM card with Axis Bank for the withdrawal of Rs.15000/- on 11.8.2009 at Patiala and she had successfully collected the amount from the ATM.For a successful transaction of the ATM, the debit card has to be inserted at any of the designated ATM alongwith secret PIN which is known only to the customer and therefore, there was no question of any negligence or deficiency on the part of the bank.

8.       It is admitted that the complainant had lodged the complaint telephonically with ops no.1&2 which complaints were duly investigated and no fault was found in the matter.

9.       The ops have acknowledged the receipt of the legal notice dated 21.10.2009 which was duly replied on 28.10.2009. It is denied if the ops had not supplied the statement of account of the ATM for 1.8.2009 and 11.8.2009.After denouncing the other averments of the complaint, going against the ops, it was prayed to dismiss the complaint.

10.     In the written statement filed by ops no.3&4 it is averred that the complainant had on 1.8.2009 operated the automated teller machine maintained by the ops at Gurbax Colony,Patiala for the withdrawal of Rs.15000/- and the transaction was successful as per the record of the ops.The complainant had again on 11.8.2009 withdrawn Rs.15000/- from the ATM installed at Gurbax Colony,Patiala.

11.     It is averred by the ops that no CC TV camera has been installed in the ATM room in Gurbax Colony,Patiala and that no record in that regard could be supplied to the complainant. The ATM card holders have PIN no. and only a person having the PIN no. can withdraw the amount by way of having access to the ATM.The complainant had successfully withdrawn Rs.15000/- each on 1.8.2009 and 11.8.2009 and ultimately this set of the ops also prayed for the dismissal of the complaint.

12.     In support of her complaint, the complainant produced in evidence,Ex.C1, her sworn affidavit alongwith documents,Exs.C2 to C8 and her learned counsel closed the evidence.

13.     On the other hand, on behalf of the ops no.3&4 their learned counsel produced in evidence,Ex.R1, the sworn affidavit of Kawaljit Singh Arora,Assistant Vice President of ops no.3&4.

14.     On behalf of ops no.1&2 their learned counsel tendered in evidence,Ex.R2 the sworn affidavit of Sanjeev Jindal,Branch Manager of op no.1 alongwith documents Exs.R3 to R8 and closed their evidence.

15.     The parties filed the written arguments. We have examined the same, heard the learned counsel for the parties and gone through the evidenced on record.

16.     The complainant has simply made an averment in the complaint that she has maintained her saving bank account No.01162000115669 with HDFC Bank Limited Branch of Leela Bhawan Market,Patiala and she has not disclosed the no. with the help of which she is enjoying the facility of the ATM.

17.     The complainant has produced in evidence,Ex.C6, the copy of the slip dated 11.8.2009 with regard to the operation of ATM at Axis Bank Ltd Gurbax Colony,Patiala at 1.18 with the help of card No.4386240131825760/000 for the withdrawal of Rs.15000/-.Ex.C4 is the statement of account in respect of account No.01161000115669 issued by HDFC Bank for the period 22.7.2009 to 21.10.2009 in which there is an entry dated 11.8.2009 with regard to debit of Rs.15000/- vide EAW-4386240131825760 Patiala. Both in Exs.C6 and C4 there is shown a balance of Rs.1292.16 on 11.8.2009.

18.     The complainant has not produced any slip collected  by her from the ATM used by her on 1.8.2009 at Axis Bank Gurbax Colony,Patiala. Here it is also important to note that the complainant had used the ATM at Axis Bank Gurbax Colony,Patiala on 1.8.2009 on which date also she had not collected the amount from the ATM but strange enough she failed to make a complaint to the concerned Branch Manager of the Axis Bank Gurbax Colony,Patiala upto 11.8.2009 when again she had not collected the amount having used the ATM again at Axis Bank Gurbax Colony,Patiala and even she failed to make any complaint with regard to her having not collected the amount from the ATM on 11.8.2009 either to Branch Manager HDFC Bank branch office Leela Bhawan Market,Patiala.

19.     We have examined,Ex.R6, the statement of account of the complainant issued by the HDFC Bank.On 1.8.2009 a sum of Rs.15000/- was debited for withdrawing vide EAW-4386240131825760,Patiala with a reference to 0004884 and similarly a sum of Rs.15000/- was debited on 11.8.2009 for the withdrawal vide EAW-4386240131825760 with reference to 0006525.In the said statement of account there is an entry regarding the withdrawal of Rs.15000/- on 2.8.2009 by the use of  ATW 4386240131825760 Gurbax Colony,Patiala. It was submitted by the learned counsel for the complainant that ATW means the withdrawal of the money with the help of automated teller but he could not make any distinction regarding the withdrawals made with the help of EAW.

20.     It is important to note that the complainant has not disclosed in para no.3 of the complaint in which branch of the Axis Bank she had visited to withdraw the amount on 1.8.2009.She has not produced any ticket to have been issued by the ATM used by her on 1.8.2009. This would go to show the falsity of the allegations made in the complaint especially when she failed to lodge any complaint in writhing with the concerned branch of the Axis Bank, where she had operated the ATM and for the same reason we are not inclined to accept the allegations made in the complaint with regard to the ATM having not dispensed the money on 11.8.2009 although the complainant does not claim having used the ATM on 11.8.2009.The failure on the part of the complainant to lodge any complaint in writing with the Branch Manager of the Axis Bank goes a long way to belie the plea taken up by the complainant that she had not been provided with the money by the ATM on 1.8.2009 and that she had not made a use of the ATM on 11.8.2009.The complainant has herself produced in evidence,Ex.C5, the letter dated 15.9.2009 written to her by ops no.1&2 having informed her that in the matter of the transaction regarding the use of the debit card no. vide 4386240131825760 at Axis Bank on 11.8.2009, they had requested the acquiring bank to produce the proof of transaction for the aforesaid transaction and the aforesaid bank had produced the proof of the transaction and that the transaction is deemed to be a valid transaction. We find that in view of the lapse on the part of the complainant to redress her remedy with the Axis bank immediately after the transaction having taken place on 1.8.2009 and then in respect of the transaction dated 11.8.2009 certainly causes a doubt about the genuineness of the claim of the complainant and accordingly we do not find any substance in the complaint and the same is hereby dismissed.

Pronounced.

Dated:30.9.2011

                             Neelam Gupta      Amarjit Singh Dhindsa    D.R.Arora

                             Member                Member                            President