JUDGMENT 2.11.2010 Justice Pritam Pal, President 1. This appeal by complainant is directed against the order dated 29.4.2008 passed by District Consumer Forum-I, U.T.Chandigarh whereby his complaint bearing No.524 of 2008 was allowed partly with costs of Rs.2100/- and respondents were directed to withdraw the interest charges, late fee charges, service tax etc charged on the amount of Rs.290.19. 2. In nutshell, the facts as set out in the complaint are that the complainant is holder of ICICI Credit Card bearing No.4477470172275001 of opposite parties. The complainant on receiving statement dated 08.07.2005 found that OPs had charged $ 6.44 US dollars (Rs.290.19) more than the actual payment which was made at Clarion Hotel- LA in USA. The complainant after deducting the said amount of Rs.290.19 P out of total bill of Rs.131348.24, made payment of Rs.131058.05 through cheque No.281292 dated 28.07.2005 and dropped the said cheque in the Drop Box of OP No.2 on 29.7.2005. Complainant also sent letter dated 28.07.05 to the OPs explaining the whole matter. However, in the statement dated 08.08.05, the payment of Rs.131058.15 was acknowledged by the OP but the difference of the above said amount was not adjusted and instead interest of Rs.5284.90 with Rs.539.06 as service tax was charged from him and therefore, the complainant wrote letter to OPs on 19.08.05 requesting them to withdraw the interest, service tax amount and adjust Rs.290.19. The complainant received another statement dated 08.09.05 in which the excess charged amount of Rs.290.19 was adjusted and removed from his account but the wrongly charged interest with service tax (Rs.6114.15 which included excess charged amount of Rs.290.19) was not withdrawn from his account and further late payment fee, interest charges again with respective service tax total amounting to Rs.973.24 were charged which were illegal and arbitrary. It was alleged that complainant wrote many letters to OPs to remove the interest amount shown towards him but OPs had been regularly charging interest on interest with respective service tax which amounted to deficiency in service and unfair trade practice. It was further alleged that in the statement dated 07.04.07, OPs had shown an amount of Rs.33757.39 to be paid by him to them. Thereafter, the complainant served legal notices dated 30.04.07/04.05.07 upon OPs calling upon them to clear the excess interest amount wrongly charged but to no effect. Hence, complainant filed complaint before the District Forum seeking refund of illegal charged amount of Rs.37500/- besides compensation and costs of complaint. 3. On the other hand, the case of OPs before the District Forum was that the complainant was in the habit of making delayed payment as raised in the credit card statement and on account of delayed payment, the Bank charged an amount from Rs.300/- to Rs.600/- as late payment charges and apart from this, the card holder was also charged interest charges @ 3.11% and service tax. The complainant was to pay a sum of Rs.43694.43P towards OPs. It was pleaded that the Bank was ready to settle the matter as regards the interest and late fee payment as charged on the amount of Rs.290.19P but the complainant was liable to pay the interest and delayed payment charges on all other transactions. 4. The District Consumer Forum after going through the evidence and hearing counsel for parties allowed the complaint partly as indicated in the opening part of this judgment. Still dissatisfied, complainant has come up in this appeal. 5. We have heard learned counsel for the parties and gone through the file carefully. The only noticeable point of arguments raised on behalf of the complainant was that the appellant/complainant was regularly depositing the due amount well in time and the cheque of Rs.131058.05 dated 28.7.2005 was dropped in the Drop Box on the due date i.e. 29.7.2005 but respondents attached the account of his son towards the unpaid outstanding dues of Rs.43694.43 the detail of which has not been given. However, the above points of arguments have been repelled by the learned counsel for respondents. 6. It is pertinent to mention here that the OPs alongwith their written statement before the District Forum had attached copies of account statement showing the date of transaction, billing amount, previous balance, closing balance etc. and the statement dated 7.9.2007 shows the closing balance to be Rs.43694.43. Further, it is admitted case of the complainant that the amount of Rs.1,31,058.05 was deposited through cheque which was dropped in the Drop Box on 29.7.2005 which was the last date of payment and the payment was credited into the account of respondents on 1.8.2005 thus, as observed by the Learned District Forum the bank was well within its right in levying the late charges, interest charges and service charges. The complainant has not brought on record any evidence to prove that all the outstanding amounts were paid on their due dates and that the transactions mentioned in the credit card statement were not made by him and the amounts shown therein were wrong. 7. In view of the above discussion, we are of the opinion that the impugned order passed by the District Forum is well reasoned and justified in the given facts and circumstances and requires no interference. Consequently the appeal being without any substance is hereby dismissed, leaving the parties to bear their own costs. Certified Copies of this order be sent to the parties, free of charge. The file be consigned to record room.
| | HON'BLE MRS. NEENA SANDHU, MEMBER | HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE PRITAM PAL, PRESIDENT | , | |
