Haryana

Ambala

CC/96/2014

Amrinder Deep Singh s/o Shri Devinder Pal Singh - Complainant(s)

Versus

ICICI Bank Ltd. - Opp.Party(s)

V.P.S.Duggal

11 Dec 2015

ORDER

BEFORE THE DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM, AMBALA.

          Complaint Case No.:  96 of 2014

         Date of Institution    : 01.04.2014

         Date of Decision   :    11.12.2015

1.       Amrinder Deep Singh son of Sh. Devinder Pal Singh through his Special Power of Attorney Sh.Devinder Pal Singh son of Sh. Avtar Singh.

2.       Harjeet Kaur wife of Sh. Devinder Pal Singh both permanent resident of 36-39 Preet Nagar (Police Line),Ambala City.

……….Complainants

Versus

1.       ICICI Bank Limited, Aggarsain Chowk, Ambala-Hissar Road, Ambala City though its Branch Manager.

2.       ICICI Bank Limited, Regd. Office “Land Mark” Race Course Circle, Vadodara-390007 (India) through its Manager Operations.

          ……Opposite Parties

 

Complaint under Section 12 of the  Consumer Protection Act.

 

CORAM:    SH. A.K. SARDANA, PRESIDENT.

                   SH. PUSHPENDER KUMAR, MEMBER.

                  

Present:       Sh. V.P.S. Duggal, Adv. counsel for complainant.

                   Sh. B.B. Sehgal, Adv. counsel for Ops.

 

ORDER:

 

                    Brief facts of the present complaint are that the complainants obtained a Home Loan from Ops  by depositing original Title Deed of the Property No.36-39, Preet Nagar, Ambala City. Complainants returned the loaned amount to Ops and their account was closed as fully satisfied.  Vide letter dated 20.07.2013, the Ops intimated complainants that their Home Loan account has been cleared and requested to collect the original property documents alongwith Loan clearance certificate from the OP No.1. Accordingly, complainant approached the OP No.1 but they failed to handover the deed to the complainant.  Thereafter complainants received  a letter dated 26.08.2013 from OP Bank wherein they informed that the original Title Deed has been misplaced by them and they have reported the matter to P.S. Sahibabad, Gaziabad for lodging an FIR for loss of the documents. Again the Ops vide letter dated 17.09.2013 assured the complainants that they are making all efforts to trace out the documents but of no solution. Thus the complainants have prayed that the Ops are deficient in providing proper services to the complainants and they be directed to handover the title deed and compensation etc. as mentioned in the prayer clause of the complaint.

2.                Upon notice, Ops appeared through counsel and filed reply raising preliminary objections qua non-maintainability of complaint, suppression of material facts, no cause of action and no locus standi by complainants.  On Merits, it has been admitted that they have issued letters dated  26.08.2013 and 17.09.2013 to the complainants and further submitted that despite making best efforts, original property documents  are not traceable till date and for which they are making regular correspondence with the complainant. It has been further contended by the Ops that letter dated 20.07.2013 was issued in routine and at that time original documents were not in the hand of the Ops.  Hence, there is no deficiency on their part and prayed for dismissal of complaint with costs.

3.                In evidence, counsel for complainant tendered affidavit of Sh. Devinder Pal Singh, SPA of complainants as Annexure CX alongwith documents as Annexures C-1 to C-7 and closed the evidence whereas on the other hand, counsel for complainant tendered affidavit of Sh. Jeevan Kumar, Authorized Signatory of the OP Bank as Annexure RX alongwith documents as Annexures R-1 to R-4 and closed their evidence.

4.                We have heard the learned counsel for the parties and gone through the record very carefully. At the very outset, there is no dispute between the parties qua disbursal of home loan  & repayment thereof. But the main grievance of the complainant is that Ops lost their original property documents which were retained by them as security at the time of disbursal of the home loan. Counsel for complainants drawn our attention towards letter dated 20.07.2013 (Annexure C-2) issued by Ops to the complainant whereby it has been intimated that  “Captioned Home Loan account is clear  of all dues and has been closed in our system. You are requested to collect your original property documents/Loan Clearance Certificate from ICICI Bank Ltd. Aggarsain Chowk, Ambala City-134003, Haryana by 24.08.2013.”  Further the counsel for complainants placed reliance on letter dated 26.08.2013 (Annexure C-4) issued by Ops to the complainant mentioning that “we regret to inform you that despite having taken the best possible custodial and preservation measures, your original documents kept in one of our storage centres have been misplaced and we would like to begin the process of recreation of the document.”  On the other side, counsel for Ops has emphasized on document Annexure R-4 i.e. letter dated 24.03.2014 whereby they intimated the complainants “to collect property documents (true/certified copies) of your Loan within 30 working days else we will send back these documents to our record management Centre for permanent storage.”

5.                After hearing learned counsel for the parties and going through the record minutely, it is clear that the Original Title Deed of the property of complainants were misplaced by the Ops and they have recreated true/certified copy of the same after a gap of eight months despite repeated requests of the complainants  vide e-mails Annexures C-6 & C-7 in this regard whereas it was the prime duty of the bank to return the original document relating to property of the complainants immediately at the time of clearance of loan by the complainants but the Ops failed to do so. Besides it,  during the course of proceedings, the Ops have not stated even a single time that they are ready to handover the documents in question to the complainants. Accordingly, they are admittedly deficient in providing proper services to the complainants. As such,  we allow the present complaint and direct the Ops to comply with the following directions within thirty days  from the communication of this order:-

1. To handover the recreated certified/True Copy of the title deed of the property in question to the complainants.
2. And to pay a sum of Rs.10,000/- to the complainants on account of mental harassment.
3. Also to pay a sum of Rs.5,000/- as litigation charges including Advocate’s fee.

 

                                    The aforesaid directions must be complied with by the Ops within the stipulated period failing which the awarded amounts shall fetch simple interest @ 12% per annum for the period of default.  Copies of this order be sent to the parties concerned free of costs, as per rules. File after due compliance be consigned to record room.

 

ANNOUNCED:11.12.2015                                                              Sd/-

                                                                                                (A.K. SARDANA)

                                 PRESIDENT                

 

                                                                                                        Sd/-

(PUSHPENDER KUMAR)  

                                                                                                              MEMBER