| Final Order / Judgement | BEFORE THE DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION, JALANDHAR. Complaint No.289 of 2018 Date of Instt.09.07.2018 Date of Decision: 28.09.2021 Sh.Jatinder Kumar R/o House No.21, New Ganesh Nagar, Rama Mandi, Near Dhillon Resort, District Jalandhar. ..........Complainant Versus Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited, 5th Floor, Zone IV, Building No.21, Infinity Park, Off Western Express Highway, General AK Vaidya Marg, Malad (East), Mumbai, Maharashtra, through its Managing Director. Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited, 4th Floor, Midas Corporate Park, Opposite Bus Stand, G.T. Road, Jalandhar, Punjab, through its Manager. Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited, 6th Floor, SCO 120, Feroze Gandhi Market, Ferozpur Road, Ludhiana, through Manager.
….….. Opposite Parties Complaint Under the Consumer Protection Act. Before: Sh. Kuljit Singh (President) Smt. Jyotsna (Member) Sh. Jaswant Singh Dhillon (Member) Present: Sh. R. K. Bhardwaj, Adv. Counsel for the Complainant. Sh. Vikas Sood, Adv. Counsel for OPs No.1 to 3. Order Kuljit Singh(President) The instant complaint has been filed by the complainant, wherein he alleged tha the is working as a Lecturer in Government Senior Secondary School, Jamsher Khas, Tehsil and District Jalandhar. He availed personal loan of Rs.7,21,637/- on dated 08.07.214 account No.SPLN – 59263376 from OP-2. The complainant was to pay 48 installments of Rs.19,990/- per month qua to the satisfaction of loan amount. As per 48 installments, he was to pay the total amount of Rs.9,59,520/- within stipulated period. The monthly installment fixed Rs.19,990/- per month, which was to be deducted from the account of complainant. He has been regularly paying the installments to OP w.e.f. July 2014 up to May 2016 (22 Months), Thus the total amount paid up to May 2016 is Rs.4,39,780/-. In May 2016, the Ops disclosed to complainant that up to May the complainant had already paid Rs.4,39,780/- and OP No.2 further disclosed that in 2nd week of May an amount of Rs.4,42,802/- is still outstanding. The outstanding amount of Rs.4,42,802/- was paid through banker Cheque No.482048 dated 18.05.2016. Vide notice dated 16.05.2018 from OP-2, the complainant was shocked to know that an amount of Rs.6,24,680.24 is due towards the complainant, which is completely illegal and is against principles of law, as the complainant has already paid the loan amount to full and final. The reply to that notice was sent to both the OPs, but OP-2 refused to receive the same. The OP has deducted an additional amount of Rs.49980/- from the saving account of complainant, without his consent. Thus, despite of clearing the loan amount, the OPs has raised illegal demand of Rs.6,24,680.24. Lastly prayer has been made that the OPs be directed to withdraw the notice dated 16.05.218 and they further be directed to issue no due certificate in favour of complainant. The OPs be also directed to pay Rs.90,000/- to complainant towards harassment and Rs.10,000/- as legal expenses. Notice of the complaint was given to the OPs and accordingly, OPs appeared through its counsel and filed written reply, whereby contested the complaint by taking preliminary objectionsthat complaint is not maintainable; complainant has not come this Forum with clean hands and has suppressed the true and material fact; Jatinder Kumar approached to the bank for grant of Rs.7,21,637/- vide application under salaried personal loan category and submitted various documents in the bank. Bank considered his request and after verifying all the documents sanctioned to him to the tune of Rs.7,21,637/- vide loan agreement No. 59263376 on the basis of terms and conditions mentioned in load agreement. The loan was disbursed to him and the said amount was credited in his account. As per terms and conditions of loan agreement said amount was to be returned by Jatinder Kumar alongwith agreed rate of interest in equal installments as mentioned. But after receipt of amount received from the bank, Jatinder Kumar paid only three installments in time but thereafter, he started defaulting the same. The representative of bank contacted him many times for the recovery of the amount and thereafter he issued the bankers cheque No.482028 dated 18.05.2016 for a sum of Rs.4,42,802/- alongwith the covering letter. The bank has taken the amount from Jatinder Kumar as per terms and conditions of the agreement which was executed between Jatinder Kumar and the bank. The bank never took any extra amount from him. Moreover, the bank has received a sum of Rs.39,980/- as mentioned from Jatinder Kumar [19990/- on 10.12.2016 and Rs.19990/- on 13.07.2017] and ECS 10,156/- was bounced. Even as on today huge amount is due. The said loan account was to be closed on 10.07.2018 from the. It is clear that the Ops are entitled for their legal amount and they are asking the same from complainant. After suppressing the material facts even the complainant filed one complaint to the Reserve Bank of India but that complaint has also been disposed off. In the covering letter dated 08.07.2016, he acknowledged the debt. On merits, all the other averments are denied and prayed for dismissal of complaint. In order to prove her respective version, the counsel for the complainant produced on the file complainant’s evidence. Rejoinder to the written statement filed by the complainant, whereby reasserted the entire facts as narrated in the complaint and denied those of the written statement. We have heard the argument from learned counsel for the complainant and also gone through the case file as well as written arguments very minutely. The counsel for complainant has argued that complainant availed personal loan of Rs.7,21,637/- on dated 08.07.214 account No.SPLN – 59263376 from OP-2. The complainant was to pay 48 installments of Rs.19,990/- per month qua to the satisfaction of loan amount. As per 48 installments, he was to pay the total amount of Rs.9,59,520/- within stipulated period. The monthly installment fixed Rs.19,990/- per month, which was to be deducted from the account of complainant. He has been regularly paying the installments to OP w.e.f. July 2014 up to May 2016 (22 Months), Thus the total amount paid up to May 2016 is Rs.4,39,780/-. In May 2016, the Ops disclosed to complainant that up to May the complainant had already paid Rs.4,39,780/- and OP No.2 further disclosed that in 2nd week of May an amount of Rs.4,42,802/- is still outstanding. The outstanding amount of Rs.4,42,802/- was paid through banker Cheque No.482048 dated 18.05.2016. Vide notice dated 16.05.2018 from OP-2, the complainant was shocked to know that an amount of Rs.6,24,680.24 is due towards the complainant, which is completely illegal and is against principles of law, as the complainant has already paid the loan amount to full and final. The reply to that notice was sent to both the OPs, but OP-2 refused to receive the same. The Op has deducted an additional amount of Rs.49980/- from the saving account of complainant, without his consent. Thus, despite of clearing the loan amount, the OPs has raised illegal demand of Rs.6,24,680.24. While on the other hand, learned counsel for OPs argued that loan was granted to complainant to the tune of Rs.7,21,637/- vide loan agreement No. 59263376 on the basis of terms and conditions mentioned in load agreement. The loan was disbursed to him and the said amount was credited in his account. As per terms and conditions of loan agreement said amount was to be returned by Jatinder Kumar alongwith agreed rate of interest in equal installments as mentioned. But after receipt of amount received from the bank, Jatinder Kumar paid only three installments in time but thereafter, he started defaulting the same. The representative of bank contacted him many times for the recovery of the amount and thereafter he issued the bankers cheque No.482028 dated 18.05.2016 for a sum of Rs.4,42,802/- alongwith the covering letter. The bank has taken the amount from Jatinder Kumar as per terms and conditions of the agreement which was executed between Jatinder Kumar and the bank. The bank never took any extra amount from him. Moreover, the bank has received a sum of Rs.39,980/- as mentioned from Jatinder Kumar [19990/- on 10.12.2016 and Rs.19990/- on 13.07.2017] and ECS 10,156/- was bounced. Even as on today huge amount is due. The said loan account was to be closed on 10.07.2018 from the. It is clear that the Ops are entitled for their legal amount and they are asking the same from complainant. From the account statement, the about 22 installments of had shown as paid by complainant on different dates. On the other hand, OPs have failed to clear in the Commission that, what is the balance in the month of May 2016, the complainant has given said cheque of Rs.4,42,802/-. We further feel that, OPs have miserably failed to prove that, the amount demanded from the complainant was on account of any variation in the rate of interest. We feel, even if, OPs are entitled to change the rate of interest, it is incumbent upon them, to inform the complainant or at least give a notice or prior information and we feel, it is mandatory on the part of OPs. We feel that, in the present matter, OPs have acted like Sahukars, who were doing this kind of business and used to exploit the innocent people and even used to tamper with the record. We feel that, OPs have failed to bring anything in the version that, how much amount is due towards the complainant, at this stage and in what manner the amount is calculated. The OPs even failed to produce any calculation of any outstanding amount towards complainant. We further feel that, OPs have tried to conceal material facts from this Commission, which further proves deficiency in service on their part. We have perused the entire version filed by the OPs. There is nothing in the version of the OPs that, how after a gap of about 2 years from the date of receiving cheque of Rs.4,42,802/- on 18.05.2016, OPs demanded more money despite the fact that, complainant had paid all the installments and how they retained the documents of the complainant and did not issue the No Due Certificate to them. The version of the OPs is totally silent on the allegations of the complainant. No cogent, reliable and trustworthy evidence brought on record by the OPs that, how any type of amount is outstanding against the complainant. Further, there is no clear cut column in the statement produced by Ops that what is the balance when he received the said amount of Rs.4,42,802/-. It is admitted fact that, complainant had been paying the installments to the tune of Rs.19990/- per month. We further feel that, the dispute between the parties has cropped up due to the arbitrary and one sided action of the OPs. We further feel that, the Consumer Protection Act is enacted to help such type of consumers, who get exploited from the hands of such type of banking institutions, which are being run by the private companies. As we have discussed above, complainant was never defaulters we feel that, by not filing a detailed reply, OPs tried to conceal the material facts from this Commission. So, we feel that the deficiency in service against the OPs is writ large on the file. In view of our above discussion, we partly allow the present complaint and order the OPs to settle the loan account of the complainant and to refund the excess amount, if any, charged from the complainant. We further order the OPs to issue the No Due Certificate, return the original documents etc, if any, to the complainant. We further direct the OPs to pay a sum of Rs.5,000/- as consolidated amount of compensation for causing mental and physical harassment to the complainant. Copies of the order be sent to the parties, as permissible, under the rules. This complaint could not be decided within stipulated time frame due to rush of work. File be indexed and consigned to the record room after due compliance.
Announced in open Commission 28th of September 2021 Kuljit Singh (President) Jyotsna (Member) Jaswant Singh Dhillon (Member) | |
