Haryana

Fatehabad

CC/231/2020

Smt.Savita Rani - Complainant(s)

Versus

Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. - Opp.Party(s)

Harish Mehta

04 Dec 2023

ORDER

BEFORE THE DISTT.CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION; FATEHABAD.

 

C.C.No.231/2020.

Date of Instt.: 24.09.2020.

Date of Decision: 04.12.2023

 

Smt.Savita Rani wife of Sudarshan Kumar resident of House No.324, Green Park, Bhattu Road, Fatehabad.

..Complainant

     Versus

 

1.Kotak Mahinder Bank Limited, Registered Office: 27 BKCC27G Block, Bandra Kurla Complex, Bandara (East), Mumbai- 400051 through its Chairman-cum-Managing Director/ Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer.

2.Branch Manager, Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited, Branch Office G.T.Road, Fatehabad.

 

..Opposite Parties.

Before:        Sh.Rajbir Singh, President

                   Smt.Harisha Mehta, Member.

                   Dr.K.S.Nirania, Member.        

         

Present:       Sh.Harish Mehta, Advocate for complainant.

                   Sh.Yogesh Gupta, counsel for OPs.

                   

ORDER

Sh.Rajbir Singh, President   

1.                 Brief facts of the present complaint are that the complainant had invested a sum of Rs.3 lac on 14.12.2018 in the mutual fund with the Ops for a period of one year vide entry No.9413021497 made in the account of the complainant; that after completion of one year all the benefits accrued thereon were to be released to the complainant but till today same has not been given to the complainant without any reason; that the reference number qua the said investment is 1118331; that the complainant was in dire need of money therefore, she kept on visiting the Ops to get the money alongwith accrued benefits thereon but to no avail; that the complainant has been receiving the massage on her mobile and as on 17.09.2020 the invested amount was shown as Rs.3 lac with interest @ 10.13 % amounting to Rs.3,56,494.68/- but the amount has not been released to the complainant till today; that the complainant kept on requesting the Ops besides serving legal notice upon them but to no effect. The act and conduct of the Ops clearly amounts to deficiency in service as well as unfair trade practice on their part.  In evidence, the complainant has tendered affidavit Ex.CW1/A alongwith documents Annexure C1 to Annexure C5.

2.                          On notice Ops appeared and filed their joint reply wherein it has been submitted that the complainant has never approached the replying Ops for redemption of Mutual fund and in the absence of making the said specific request by way of submitting a duly filled redemption form the Ops cannot proceed further to facilitate the process of redemption of the stated Mutual Fund, therefore, the present complaint is not maintainable and even the complainant has no cause of action to file the present complaint; that as per the terms and conditions of the subject mutual fund as agreed to by the complainant, she herself has chosen to invest the said amount in an open ended fund; that in order to redeem the invested amount the complainant had to file redemption request at any point of time but she has failed to do so; that the replying Ops have never denied their role due in the process of redemption of the mutual fund. There is no deficiency in service and unfair trade practice on the part of Ops. Other contentions have been controverted and prayer for dismissal of the compliant has been made. In evidence, the Ops have tendered affidavit Ex.RW1/A alongwith documents Annexure R1 to Annexure R4.

3.                 We have learned counsels for the parties and gone through the case file very carefully.

4.                The complainant has come with the plea that the Ops have not released the invested amount of Rs.3 lac alongwith its accrued benefits despite several requests to them causing financial loss besides mental agony, harassment and fatigue. In support of his contention learned counsel for the complainant drew the attention of this Commission towards Annexure C1 and Annexure C2. He further argued that on being failure of releasing the amount by the Ops, the complainant got served legal notice  (Annexure C3) upon them before approaching to this Hon’ble Commission.

5.                The Ops in their reply have specifically mentioned that the complainant has never approached to them for the releasing of Mutual fund amount by way of submitting redemption form which was mandatory for the process of releasing the amount, therefore, the complainant herself is at fault in not doing so.

6.                On the case file the legal notice has been placed as Annexure C3 and the reply to the legal notice filed by the Ops has also been placed on the case file as Annexure R4.   Paragraphs No.5 and 6 of the reply to legal notice Annexure R4 are as under:

5.The subject MF is an open ended fund. The amount remains invested in the fund in perpetuity with no fixed maturity date unless a redemption request is made by the customer. There is no fixed time period for which the amount remains invested in an open ended fund. The investor may redeem the invested amount by placing a redemption request. After submission of such request, subject to due verification as per process, the amount invested including the benefits earned in the fund is liquidated and the proceeds are transferred to a desired client’s account. Your client has not yet submitted any redemption request for the subject MF. As a result, the amount remains invested as per her instructions in the application form.

6.We request your client to submit a duly filled redemption request form for the subject MF so that the amount invested including the benefits may be transferred to your client’s account.

 

The reply itself enough to reach at the conclusion that the complainant has never submitted any redemption form for the releasing of the amount, therefore, in the said reply request was made for submission of the redemption form to release the invested amount alongwith its benefits in the account of the complainant but it is strange that instead of filing the redemption form to the Ops the complainant has chosen to file the present complaint before this Commission.  Perusal of the case file reveals that there is nothing on the case file that the complainant has ever requested the Ops in writing to release the invested amount alongwith its accrued benefits. It is not the case of the complainant that she has not received the reply to legal notice. It was open for the complainant to file redemption request but she failed to so even during the proceedings before this Commission. The complaint was filed on 24.09.2020 and the reply was filed on 06.01.2021. Therefore, it is clearly established that the complainant was well aware about the filing of redemption form in order to get the invested amount released. The Ops have never refused to release the invested amount alongwith its accrued benefits as per terms and conditions.

7.                Keeping in view the above discussion we have come to the conclusion that the present complaint before this Commission is not maintainable being pre-mature. Therefore, we hereby dispose-off the complaint with the directions to the complainant to submit the redemption request with the OPs within a period of 30 days and thereafter the Ops would release the claim within 30 days from the date of receiving of the redemption request from the complainant. It is made clear that if any grievance remains pending, in that eventuality, the complainant is at liberty to approach this Commission/competent authority for the redressal of the grievance. The parties are left to bear their own costs. A copy of this order be furnished to both the parties free of cost as provided in the rules.  File be consigned to record room after due compliance.

 

Announced in open Commission.                                                            Dated: 04.12.2023

 

 

                                                                                               

      (K.S.Nirania)                     (Harisha Mehta)           (Rajbir Singh)                             Member                               Member                           President