In the Court of the Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Unit -I, Kolkata, 8B, Nelie Sengupta Sarani, 4th Floor, Kolkata-700087. CDF/Unit-I/Case No.99 / 2007. 1) Mr. M.K. Patel, Telecom Colony, Madhuban, Dist Mayurbhanj, Baripada – 757001. ---------- Complainant ---Versus--- 1) The Compliance Officer, Risk & Compliance, ICICI Webtrade Limited, ICICI Brokerage Services Ltd., 2nd Floor, Stanrose House, Prabhadevi, Mumbai-400025. 2) National Stock Exchange of India Ltd., Park View Apartments, 99, Rash Behari Avenue, Kolkata-29. ---------- Opposite Parties Present : Sri Sankar Nath Das, President. Dr. Subir Kumar Chaudhuri, Member. Order No. 45 Dated 15-05-2013. The case of the complainant in short is that he has a saving and demat account for on line Share Trading with o.p. no.1, 2 and 3 in their future and option segment, where all communications and transaction s are made through a website named as ICICI Direct.com. O.p. no.2 is a brokerage service sector of ICICI Bank i.e. o.p. no.1 and o.p. no.3 is the regd. office of o.p. no.1. O.p. no.2 is a member of National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. i.e. o.p. no.4, having its NSC REGISTRATION NO.INF 230773037 for Futures and Options Trading. On and about 5.2.07 complainant having account no.006101045050 with o.p. no.1, 2 and 3 have placed an order in the Option Derivative sector and allocated a fund of Rs.16,202.66 through ICICI Direct.com. in its Future and Option segment. Complainant has placed a by order on OPT-RELPET-22-FEB-2007-80 for 10 Lots of 3350 Each (33500 Nos). The closing price or the The LTP (Last Traded Price) on 2nd February 2007 was 0.20 (twenty paisa only) and the corresponding estimated premium price shown by ICICIDirect.com. of o.p. no.1, 2 and 3, in the order verification was within the limit of fund allocated by the complainant before executing the order. Complainant further says that on 5th February 2007 (day of trading by complainant) the base price was 0.20 (twenty paisa only) as per NSE circular point item 2 (f), point 2. Hence operating range and day maximum minimum price range was +/-99% of 0.20 paisa i.e. 0.002 (minimum) (0.20 – 0.99 x 0.20) and 0.398 (maximum) (0.20 + 0.99 x 0.20). Complainant intended to purchase the F&O contract within the rule of o.p. no.4 / NSE applicable to contract i.e. at maximum operating range of .398 on 5.2.07. And also intended not to extend the allocated premium amount of Rs.16,202.66. The o.p. nos.1, 2 and 3 through their website ICICI Direct.com customer service DEMO clearly tells that “(a) you need to allocate fund in Future & Option (b) Click On Limit (c) Here you can see the purchasing power of option trading which was Rs.16,202.66/- (d) Please note that all the futures transaction was cash settled. The system will just check the sufficient limits at the time of buying or selling the contract”. It can be enumerated that the amount of purchase is 9900% (for 8 lot) and 400% (for 2 lot) higher than the base price on 5th February 2007 (0.20/-). It indicates that the Option contract specification price band of operating range of 99% base price is violated. And further the amount of purchase is 81 times higher then the estimated premium value shown by the o.p. nos.1, 2 and 3 through their website ICICIDirect.com ORDER VERIFICATION SCREEN. On an about 19.2.07 o.p. no.2 in spite of the aforesaid correspondences, a reminder letter was sent to the complainant, claiming an explanation for the abnormal trade in the Options segment in the complainant’s account. The o.ps. again made a claim of Rs.5,20,325/- from the complainant without any relevant explanation. Hence the case was filed by the complainant with the prayer contained in the petition of complaint. O.p. nos.1, 2 and 3 had entered their appearance in this case by filing w/v and denied all the material allegations labeled against them and prayed for dismissal of the case. O.p. no.4 did not contest the case and matter was heard ex parte against o.p. no.4. Ld. lawyer of o.ps. in the course of the argument submitted that the case has got no merit and the same is liable to be dismissed. Decision with reasons: We have gone through the pleadings of the parties, evidence and documents in particular and we find that he has a saving and demat account for on line Share Trading with o.p. no.1, 2 and 3 in their future and option segment, where all communications and transaction share made through a website named as ICICI Direct.com. O.p. no.2 is a brokerage service sector of ICICI Bank i.e. o.p. no.1 and o.p. no.3 is the regd. office of o.p. no.1. O.p. no.2 is a member of National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. i.e. o.p. no.4, having its NSC REGISTRATION NO.INF 230773037 for Futures and Options Trading. We find from the record that on and about 5.2.07 complainant having account no.006101045050 with o.p. no.1, 2 and 3 have placed an order in the Option Derivative sector and allocated a fund of Rs.16,202.66 through ICICI Direct.com. in its Future and Option segment. We further find from the record that complainant has placed a bye order on OPT-RELPET-22-FEB-2007-80 for 10 Lots of 3350 Each (33500 Nos). The closing price or the The LTP (Last Traded Price) on 2nd February 2007 was 0.20 (twenty paisa only) and the corresponding estimated premium price shown by ICICIDirect.com. of o.p. no.1, 2 and 3, in the order verification was within the limit of fund allocated by the complainant before executing the order. Complainant further says that on 5th February 2007 (day of trading by complainant) the base price was 0.20 (twenty paisa only) as per NSE circular point item 2 (f), point 2. Hence operating range and day maximum minimum price range was +/-99% of 0.20 paisa i.e. 0.002 (minimum) (0.20 – 0.99 x 0.20) and 0.398 (maximum) (0.20 + 0.99 x 0.20). It is seen from the record that complainant intended to purchase the F&O contract within the rule of o.p. no.4 / NSE applicable to contract i.e. at maximum operating range of o.398 on 5.2.07. And also intended not to extend the allocated premium amount of Rs.16,202.66. It is also seen from the record that the o.p. nos.1, 2 and 3 through their website ICICI Direct.com customer service DEMO clearly tells that “(a) You need to allocate fund in Future & Option (b) Click On Limit (c) Here you can see the purchasing power of option trading which was Rs.16,202.66/- (d) Please note that all the futures transaction was cash settled. The system will just check the sufficient limits at the time of buying or selling the contract”. It can be enumerated that the amount of purchase is 9900% (for 8 lot) and 400% (for 2 lot) higher than the base price o9n 5th February 2007 (0.20/-). It indicates that the Option contract specification price band of operating range of 99% base price is violated. And further the amount of purchase is 81 times higher then the estimated premium value shown by the o.p. nos.1, 2 and 3 through their website ICICIDirect.com ORDER VERIFICATION SCREEN. It transpires from the record that on an about 19.2.07 o.p. no.2 in spite of the aforesaid correspondences, a reminder letter was sent to the complainant, claiming an explanation for the abnormal trade in the Options segment in the complainant’s account. The o.ps. again made a claim of Rs.5,20,325/- from the complainant without any relevant explanation. In views of the findings of above and on perusal of the entire materials on record we find that o.ps. had sufficient deficiency being service provider to its consumer / complainant and complainant is entitled to relief. Hence, ordered, That the case is allowed on contest with cost against o.p. nos.1 to 3 and ex parte with cost against o.p. no.4. O.ps. are jointly and/or severally directed to reverse the claim amount of Rs.5,20,525/- (Rupees five lakhs twenty thousand five hundred twenty five) only and are further directed to pay to the complainant compensation of Rs.50,000/- (Rupees fifty thousand) only for harassment and mental agony and litigation cost of Rs.5000/- (Rupees five thousand) only within 45 days from the date of communication of this order, i.d. an interest @ 10% p.a. shall accrue over the entire sum due to the credit of the complainant till full realization. Supply certified copy of this order to the parties free of cost. | 
