DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM, NORTH-WEST
GOVT. OF NCT OF DELHI
CSC-BLOCK-C, POCKET-C, SHALIMAR BAGH, DELHI-110088.
CC No: 466/2015
D.No- ___________________ Date: ________________
IN THE MATTER OF:
1. DEVASHISH CHANDRA TEWARY,
S/o SH. B.C. TEWARY,
2. Smt. AARTI TEWARY,
W/o SH. DEVASHISH CHANDRA TEWARY,
BOTH R/o H. No. 17, GROUND FLOOR,
INDRA VIHAR, DELHI-110009. … COMPLAINANT
Versus
ING VYASYA BANK LTD.,
NOW AMALGAMATED WITH KOTAK MAHINDRA BANK LTD.,
(THROUGH ITS C.E.O./CHAIRMAN),
BLOCK-A, PLOT No. 11B, MODEL TOWN, DELHI.
ALSO AT: REGD. OFFICE: ING VYASYA HOUSE,
22, M.G. ROAD, BENGALURU-560001. … OPPOSITE PARTY
CORAM :SH. M.K. GUPTA, PRESIDENT
SH. BARIQ AHMAD, MEMBER
MS. USHA KHANNA, MEMBER
Date of Institution: 24.04.2015
Date of Decision: 03.10.2018
SH. M.K. GUPTA, PRESIDENT
ORDER
1. The complainants have filed the present complaint against the OP under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 thereby alleging that the complainants are having joint savings bank account no. 614010007590 with OP. On 07.02.2014, an amount ofRs.1,72,000/- was withdrawn from the complainant’s savings bank
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account through NEFT transfer into four savings bank accounts at SBI Dimapur Branch, Nagaland by adding the four beneficiaries namely a) Kinali Sumi a/c no. 20140865103 of Rs.42,000/-, b) Nitovi Sumi a/c no. 20137216507 of Rs.42,000/-, c) Kheto Sumi a/c no. 20137216290 of Rs.40,000/- and d) PhusikaAyemi a/c no. 20137218185 of Rs.48,000/-. The complainant further alleged that as per information given to the complainant from Airtel, the service provider for the complainant’s mobile no. 9910084627 on 07.02.2014, they received a call at 2:16 p.m. informing them about the loss of the said mobile phone and requesting them to block the usage of the SIM for the mobile phone till further instructions and later in the evening, on suspicion of having not received any call or messages or e-mails, the complainant called up own number from some other mobile phone and the response on which was ‘temporarily out of service’ and then the complainant called up the airtel customer care and received the information about the loss of mobile phone and the request for discontinuing services and the complainant immediately informed airtel that he had not lodged any such request and the services were restored in about 20 minutes and the complainant immediately received the pending delivery messages stating addition of the beneficiaries and fraudulent NEFTtransfers. Thereafter, the complainant immediately called up OP helpline no. 18004259900 from the residence landline telephone no.
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011-27658249 at around 8:20 p.m. on 07.02.2014 and informedOP about the fraudulent transactions vide reference no. 008733210. The complainant further alleged that the complainant also sent an e-mail informing OP on its prescribed e-mail ID ‘mibank@ingvysya.com’ informing about the fraudulent transactions at 12:16 a.m. (midnight of 7th& 8th February-2014) and the complainant lodged a complaint with P.S. Model Town, Delhi on 08.02.2014 vide DD No. 62B and after preliminary investigations an FIR No. 108/2014 was registered. Thereafter, a reply was received by the complainant from OP on 08.02.2014 acknowledging the e-mail sent by the complainant. On 08.02.2014, the complainant also submitted a hard copy of letter informing about the incident to Mr. Puneet Arora, Branch Head of OP but neither an acknowledgement nor a reply to the letter has been received by the complainant till date and the complainant received a call from Sh. Gaurav Gupta from OP informing him that an e-mail was being sent to him seeking details of last account activity on e-mail ID and the complainant was also informed that he will be required to answer queries to officials of OP Bengaluru Headquarter on Monday 10.02.2014 through a conference call. On 24.02.2014, around 4:30 p.m., the complainant received a call from Sh. Gaurav Gupta fromOP informing him that the headquarter of OP has asked him to inform the complainant that the amount of Rs.1,72,000/- which
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was fraudulently withdrawn from the complainant’s savings bank account was being made good by OP. Thereafter, an e-mail was subsequently received from OP on 24.02.2014 at 4:45 p.m. On 10.03.2014, after more than a month of the incident and information submitted to OP when the complainant received no response, then the complainant sent an e-mail again to OP referring the complaint and submission of desired documents and the said e-mail was acknowledged on 10.03.2014 at 5:34 p.m. by OP saying “…will respond within 48 hours”. The complainant further alleged that as reply, on 12.03.2014 at 3:00 p.m., the complainant received an e-mail from Mr./Ms. Shamshia of the internet banking team of OP which said that the complainant may seek clarification from the e-mail ID ‘customer.service@ingvysyabank.com’ and as per instructions an e-mail was sent to the e-mail ID and the complainant once again sent the e-mail which was once again returned to the complainant undelivered on 13th, 14th& 15th March-2104. The complainant further alleged that OP informed all the customers through numerous repeated text messages and e-mails that all banking services at OP would remain suspended for 2 days i.e. 8th& 9th February-2014 and the text messages and e-mails were received by the complainant and the message was ‘due to systemupgrade, disruption in banking services is expected on 8th& 9th February-2014. The complainant further alleged that numerous
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e-mails were also sent by OP in this regard and fraudulent transactions took place on 07.02.2014 which testifies the involvement of bank officials and OP did not give response and there is an act of deficiency in service on the part of OP.
2. On these allegations the complainant filed the present complaint praying for direction to OP to pay amounts of Rs.1,72,000/- and Rs.3,000/- which was illegally debited by OP from the savings account of the complainant alongwith interest @ 24% p.a. till date of payment as well as compensation of Rs.10,00,000/- for damages, harassment and mental agony and has also sought of Rs.55,000/- for cost of litigation.
3. The OP has been contesting the case and filed written statement wherein OP submitted that the complaintis not maintainable and is liable to be dismissed. OP further submitted that the complainant had a saving bank account no. 614010007590 with the erstwhile OP since 2009 and on 07.02.2014, a) Kinali Sumi a/c no. 20140865103, SBI, Dimapur Branch code-72, b) Nitovi Sumi a/c no. 2013721650 SBI Dimapur Branch code-72, c) Kheto Sumi a/c no. 20137216290, SBI Dimapur Branch code-72 and d) PhusikaAyemi a/c no. 20137218185, SBI Dimapur Branch code-72 four new beneficiary names were added to the account of thecomplainant and information with respect to same was sent to the complainant on his mobile no. 9910084627 on 07.02.2014. OP
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further alleged that on 07.02.2014, through NEFT there were transfers done from the complainant’s account to the new beneficiaries for a total sum of Rs.1,72,000/- and the saving accounts of the beneficiaries were at State Bank of India, Dimapur Branch, Nagaland and NEFT transfer through net banking from a saving bank is a secured transaction which requires the login and secret password which remains in the absolute knowledge of the customer and the above transactions were carried out using the login, password. OP further submitted that all the transactions regarding the saving bank account including the four transactions subject matter of the complaint were intimated to the complainants on his registered mobile no. immediately on 07.02.2014. OP further submitted that the e-mails by the complainants were duly replied by the bank and it is not the case of the complainant that OP did not intimate the complainants about the alleged transactions.
4. The complainant filed rejoinder to the written statement of OP and denied the contentions of OP.
5. In order to prove the case, the complainants filed their evidence by way of affidavit and the complainants also filed written arguments. The complainants also filed copy of balance summary, copy of e-mail on 07.02.2014 sent by the complainant to OP, copy of replydated 07.02.2014 sent by OP to the complainant, copy of complaint dated 08.02.2014 sent by the complainant to OP, copy of complaint
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dated 08.02.2014 sent to SHO, PS Model Town, Delhi, copy of FIR no.0108/2014 which was registered at PS Model Town, Delhi, copy of complaint dated 08.02.2014 to the OP, copy of reply dated 08.02.2014 from OP through e-mail to the complainant, copy of e-mail dated 08.02.2014 sent by the complainant in response to the e-mail of OP, copy of e-mail dated 24.02.2014 of OP and reply dated 25.02.2014 sent by the complainant through e-mail to OP.
6. On the other hand on behalf of OPMs. Neha Soni,Attorney of OP filed her affidavit in evidence which is as per lines of defence taken by OP in the written statement and also filed written argument.
7. We have heard submissions of counsel for the parties and perused the record.This Forum has considered the case of the complainant in the light of evidence of both the parties and documents placed onrecord by the complainant. The case of the complainant has remained consistent and undoubted and there is nothing on record todisbelieve the case of the complainant. We find no justification in the defence of OP as the OP has not lead any evidence to prove the fact that as to on what basis names of 4 persons were added as beneficiaries the joint saving account of the complainant. OP being a bank cannot add the name of any person as a beneficiary without the written consent of the account holder. As OP has failed to proveany such documents so no genuineness is found in the case of OP
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and OP is under a legal duty to make good the loss in the account of the complainant. As the OP has failed to credit the said amount of Rs.1,72,000/-, OP is held guilty of deficiency in service.
8. Accordingly, this forum orders as follows:
i) To pay/credit an amount of Rs.1,72,000/- being the amount wrongfully & debited in the savings account of the complainants.
ii) To pay to the complainants an amount of Rs.50,000/- as compensation for harassment and mental agony suffered.
iii) To pay to the complainants an amount of Rs.10,000/- as cost of litigation.
9. The above amount shall be paid by OP to the complainant within 30 days from the date of receiving of this order failing which OP shall be liable to pay interest on the entire awarded amount @ 10% per annum from the date of receiving of this order till the date of payment. If OP fails to comply with the order within 30 days from the date of receiving of this order, the complainant may approach this Forum u/s 25 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986.
10. Let a copy of this order be sent to each party free of cost as per regulation 21 of The Consumer Protection Regulations-2005. Therefore, file be consigned to record room.
Announced on this 3rd day of October, 2018.
BARIQ AHMED (USHA KHANNA) M.K. GUPTA
(MEMBER) (MEMBER) (PRESIDENT)
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