Punjab

Faridkot

CC/18/58

Sukhmander Singh - Complainant(s)

Versus

HDFC Bank - Opp.Party(s)

Vipan Kumar Tayal

06 Mar 2019

ORDER

DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM, FARIDKOT

 

C. C. No. :                     58 of 2018

Date of Institution :         03.04.2018

Date of Decision :            06.03.2019

Sukhmander Singh son of Jagsir Singh resident of village Devi Wala PO Aulakh near Water Tank District Faridkot, now at present residing at Vanacouver Canada through his special power of attorney Lakhbir Singh son of Dhanna Singh resident of Old Cantt Road, Faridkot, Tehsil and District Faridkot.                

                          .....Complainant

Versus

HDFC Bank Branch Kotkapura situated at B/XI/740 Faridkot Road, Kotkapura District Faridkot through its Branch Manager.

..........OP

 

Complaint under Section 12 of the

Consumer Protection Act, 1986.

 

Quorum:     Sh Ajit Aggarwal, President,

Smt Param Pal Kaur, Member.

Present:       Sh Vipan Tayal, Ld Counsel for Complainant,

 OP- Exparte.

 

ORDER

(Ajit Aggarwal, President)

                         Complainant has filed the present complaint under Section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 against OPs seeking directions to OP to refund the amount of Rs.40,000/-illegally deducted by them from the account of complainant alongwith interest and for further directing OP to pay Rs.50,000/-on account of compensation for harassment and mental agony suffered by him besides litigation expenses of Rs.9,000/-.

 

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 2                                Briefly stated, the case of the complainant is that complainant holds a saving account bearing no.06481930003628 with OP Bank and at the time of opening the account, OP assured to provide better services. In July, 2009 complainant deposited Rs. One lac with them in the shape of FDR for one year and 16 days with maturity value of Rs.1,07,514.76/- and OP informed him that minimum balance of Rs.5000/-is required to be maintained by complainant in his account and at the time of opening the FDR account, he deposited more than the minimum balance required by OP and thereafter, complainant went abroad. After one year, FDR was renewed by OP from time to time but no account statement was ever issued by them to him. OP never informed about any kind of change in policy for maintaining minimum balance pertaining to account of complainant. In February, 2017, complainant checked his account through online net banking and found that OP deducted Rs.551.50/- on two different dates of every month in 2012 from the account of complainant illegally and without giving any prior notice to him. It is  further observed that OP deducted Rs.561.80 every month till 8.04.2015 and they deducted Rs.690/-every month till 6.02.2017 and in this way, OP illegally and unlawfully deducted total amount of Rs.40,000/-from the account of complainant during the period from 12.02.2012 to 6.02.2017. complainant requested OP through online system to credit the maturity value of FDR in his account and on 1.03.2017, they did so. Complainant visited India in December, 2017 and made several requests to them to refund the amount of Rs.40,000/-illegally deducted by them from his account, but they kept lingering on the matter on one pretext or the other and did not do anything needful. All this has caused great harassment and mental torture to complainant and it amounts to deficiency in service and unfair trade practice. Complainant has also prayed for compensation and litigation expenses along with main relief. Hence, the complaint.

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3                                                        Ld Counsel for complainant was heard with regard to admission of the complaint and vide order dated 4.04.2018, complaint was admitted and notice was ordered to be issued to the opposite party.

4                                                        Registered cover containing copy of notice alongwith complaint and relevant documents was sent to OP that did not receive back undelivered. No body appeared in the Forum either in person or through counsel on behalf of OP on date fixed and after long waiting, OP were proceeded against exparte vide order dated 29.05.2018.

5                                                                 Complainant wanted to lead evidence to prove his pleadings and proper opportunity was given for this purpose. Ld Counsel for complainant tendered in evidence affidavit of complainant as Ex.C-1 and documents Ex C-2 to C-6 and then, closed his evidence.

6                                                        As there is no rebuttal from OP side, therefore, ld counsel for complainant advanced exparte arguments.

7                                                         Ld Counsel for complainant argued that complainant has a saving account with OP Bank and at the time of opening the account, OP assured to provide better services. In July, 2009 complainant deposited Rs. One lac with them in the shape of FDR for one year and 16 days with maturity value of Rs.1,07,514.76/-. OP informed him that minimum balance of Rs.5000/-is required to be maintained by complainant in his account and at the time of opening the FDR account, he deposited more than the minimum balance required by OP and thereafter, complainant went abroad. After one year, FDR was renewed by OP from time to time but no account statement was ever issued by OP.

 

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Even OP never informed about any kind of change in policy regarding maintenance of minimum balance. In February, 2017, complainant checked his account through online net banking and notice during the period of 2012 to 2017 OP have illegally deducted Rs.40,000/-from his account without giving any prior notice to him. OP kept deducting Rs.551.50 every month for the period from 12.02.2012 to 19.04.2012 and thereafter started deducting Rs.561.80/- every month till 8.04.2015 and they deducted Rs.690/-every month till 6.02.2017 and in this way, OP illegally and unlawfully deducted total amount of Rs.40,000/-from the account of complainant during the period from 12.02.2012 to 6.02.2017. Complainant visited India in December, 2017 and made several requests to them to refund the amount of Rs.40,000/-illegally deducted by them from his account, but all in vain as they did not credit the amount illegally deducted by them from his account. It has caused great harassment and mental torture to him and amounts to deficiency in service and unfair trade practice on the part of OP. Prayer for accepting the present complaint is made and counsel for complainant has stressed on documents Ex C-1 to Ex C-6. Ld counsel for complainant has placed on record copy of judgment given by our Hon’ble State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Punjab Chandigarh in FA No.365 of 2011 titled as Axis Bank Ltd Vs Brijinder Kumar Mittal decided on 26.03.2017 wherein Hon’ble State Commission held that OP could not bind down to complainant that penalty, for not maintaining minimum balance, could be imposed at the back of depositor without informing him about it.

8                                                     After careful perusal of record and evidence placed on record by complainant, it is observed that grievance of complainant is that without issuing any prior notice or letter to complainant, OP illegally deducted

 

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Rs.40,000/-from the account of complainant on pretext of maintaining minimum balance.  To prove his pleadings, he has placed on record copy of FDR Ex C-2. Ex C-3 is copy of statement of account of complainant for the period from 6.08.2009 to 11.04.2017, which is a vital document to prove the grievance of complainant. It clearly depicts that from 12.02.2012 to 19.04.2012, OP illegally deducted RS.551.50 three times from the account of complainant and they kept debiting the account of complainant for Rs.561.80 each every month for the period starting from 28.05.2012 to 8.04.2015 and thereafter, they started debiting the account of complainant for Rs.674.16/-; Rs.684/-, Rs.687/- and Rs.690/-every month from 7.05.2015 to 6.02.2017. No notice or prior intimation was ever given to complainant by OP deducting these charges. Ex C-3 statement of account placed on record by complainant is a cogent document, authenticity of which is beyond all doubts. He has further placed on record copy of legal notice issued by him to OP wherein he made request to OP to refund the amount illegally deducted by them from his account and to credit the same alongwith interest in his account. Complainant has produced sufficient and cogent evidence to prove his pleadings.

9                                   In the light of documents placed on record and case law produced by complainant it is observed that there is deficiency in service on the part of OP in debiting his account for a long period of 5 years without giving him any notice and without issuing any account statement to him. Complainant has succeeded in proving his case and therefore, complaint in hand is hereby allowed. OP is directed to overhaul the account of complainant and to refund the amount illegally deducted by them from the account of complainant on account of not maintaining the average minimum balance. Opposite Party is further directed to pay Rs.5,000/-to complainant as compensation for harassment and mental agony suffered by him as well as for litigation expenses. Compliance of this order be

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maintained within one month of receipt of the copy of the order, failing which complainant shall be entitled to proceed under Section 25 and 27 of the Consumer Protection Act. Copy of the order be supplied to parties free of costs. File be consigned to record room.

Announced in open Forum

Dated: 6.03.2019

(Param Pal Kaur)                    (Ajit Aggarwal)

Member                       President