Punjab

Faridkot

CC/17/116

JASVIR SINGH - Complainant(s)

Versus

MANAGER PUNJAB & SIND BANK - Opp.Party(s)

14 Sep 2017

ORDER

      DISTRICT  CONSUMER  DISPUTES  REDRESSAL  FORUM,  FARIDKOT

Complaint No. :        116

Date of Institution :   3.04.2017

Date of Decision :     14.09.2017

 

Jasvir Singh aged 54 years s/o Gurbax Singh Proprietor M/s Richi Shuttering Store, Faridkot Road, Kotkapura-151204 District Faridkot.      

                                                    .....Complainant

                   Versus

1. The Manager, Punjab & Sind Bank, Phawara Chowk, Jaitu Road, Kotkapura-151204.
2.  The Zonal Manager, Punjab & Sind Bank, Red Cross Bhawan, Sadiq Chowk, Faridkot
3. The General Manager, Punjab & Sind Bank, Bank House, # 21, Rajindra Place, New Delhi-110008.

                                      ....Opposite Parties

Complaint under Section 12 of the

Consumer Protection Act, 1986.

 

Quorum : Sh Ajit Aggarwal, President.

                Sh P Singla, Member.

 

Present: Sh Anil Chawla, Ld Counsel for complainant,

              Sh R S Kakkar, Ld Counsel for OPs.

 

ORDER

(Ajit Aggarwal, President)

 

                                                      Complainant has filed the present complaint under Section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 against OPs seeking directions to OPs to refund the amount of Rs.750/-alongwith interest and for further directing OPs to pay Rs.3,00,000/- as compensation on account of mental tension, harassment and inconvenience besides Rs.25,000/- as cost of litigation.

 2                                       Briefly stated, the case of the complainant is that complainant is having cash credit account bearing no.00901300001885 with OP-1 having maximum limit of Rs. 10 lacs. On 31.12.2016, OP-1 deducted Rs.5,750/-as processing charges from his cc account. When complainant reconciled the bank statement, he was shocked to see that OP-1 again deducted Rs.5,750/-from his cc account on  28.02.2017. Complainant brought this fact into the notice of OP-1, who stated that these charges have been deducted by the higher officers of OP-2 or 3 from his account and assured to refund the same within short period. thereafter on 2.03.2017, complainant received a message on his mobile phone that OPs have credited the amount of Rs.5000/-only to his account on account of refund of processing charges and did not credit the remaining amount of Rs.750/-. Complainant again approached OP-1 and requested them to also refund the remaining amount of Rs.750/-, but Op-1 did not pay any heed to hear his request. Complainant made several requests to Ops to refund his remaining amount of Rs.750/-which is illegally deducted by them, but all in vain. This act of OPs in not refunding the remaining amount of Rs.750/-to complainant amounts to deficiency in service and trade mal practice. Complainant has prayed for accepting the present complaint and has further prayed for compensation and litigation expenses. Hence, the present complaint.

3                                              The Counsel for complainant was heard with regard to admission of the complaint and vide order dated 20.04.2017, complaint was admitted and notice was ordered to be issued to the opposite party.

  4                                             On receipt of the notice, the Ops filed reply taking preliminary objections that complainant is not their consumer and this Forum has no jurisdiction to hear and try the present complaint and moreover, complainant has wrongly impleaded OP-2 and 3 as party to complaint. It is averred that complaint is premature and complainant has not approached higher authorities against OP-1. It is averred that amount of Rs.750/-has been deposited by them with  Government as tax and they have not used the same. However, on merits, Ops have denied all the allegations levelled by complainant being wrong and incorrect, but admitted before this Forum that complainant is their consumer and is having cc account in question with them. It is  also admitted that amount of Rs.5,750/-was wrongly debited by them twice from the account of complainant as Processing Charges, but averred that they have duly refunded the amount of Rs.5000/-to the account of complainant, when this fact was brought to their notice. it is averred that once the manual deduction was made and thereafter, the amount was debited by computer system automatically. It is further averred by them out of Rs.5,750/-they have refunded Rs.5000/-into the account of complainant and remaining amount of Rs.750/-is deposited by them with Government as tax. It is asserted that answering OP is a public undertaking and it has no account head which could be debited with Rs.750/-for crediting this amount to the account of complainant. It is reiterated that there is no deficiency in service on the part of answering opposite party. All other allegations and allegation with regard to relief sought too were refuted with a prayer that complaint may be dismissed with costs against the answering opposite party.

   5                                   Parties wanted to lead evidence to prove their respective pleadings and proper opportunity was given to them. The complainant tendered in evidence her affidavit Ex.C-1 and documents Ex C-2 to C-5 and then, closed the evidence.

6                                                             In order to rebut the evidence of the complainant, Counsel for OPs tendered in evidence affidavit of Prem Chand, Chief Manager, Punjab & Sind Bank as Ex. OP-1 and then, closed the evidence.

7                                           Ld Counsel for complainant vehementally contended that complainant is having cash credit account with OP-1 having maximum limit of Rs. 10 lacs and on 31.12.2016, OP-1 deducted Rs.5,750/-as processing charges from his cc account. When complainant reconciled the bank statement, he noticed that OP-1 again deducted Rs.5,750/-from his cc account on  28.02.2017, which is quite wrong. He brought this fact into the notice of OP-1, who stated that these charges have been deducted by the higher officers of OP-2 or 3 from his account and assured to refund the same within short period. Thereafter on 2.03.2017, complainant received a message on his mobile phone that OPs have credited the amount of Rs.5000/-only on account of refund of processing charges and did not credit the remaining amount of Rs.750/-. He again approached OP-1 and requested them to also refund the remaining amount of Rs.750/-, but Op-1 did not pay any heed to hear his request. Complainant made several requests to Ops to refund his remaining amount of Rs.750/-which is illegally deducted by them, but all in vain. This act of OPs in not refunding the remaining amount of Rs.750/- amounts to deficiency in service and trade mal practice. Complainant has prayed for accepting the present complaint alongwith compensation and litigation expenses.

8                                    Repelling all the allegations levelled by complainant counsel being wrong and incorrect, ld counsel for Ops vehementally argued that complainant is not their consumer and this Forum has no jurisdiction to hear and try the present complaint. He has wrongly impleaded OP-2 and 3 as party to complaint. It is averred that complaint is premature and complainant has not approached higher authorities against OP-1. It is averred that amount of Rs.750/-has been deposited by them with  Government as tax and they have not used the same. Ops have denied all the allegations of complainant being wrong and incorrect, but admitted before this Forum that complainant is their consumer and is having cc account in question with them. It is  also admitted that amount of Rs.5,750/-was wrongly debited by them twice from the account of complainant as Processing Charges, but averred that they have duly refunded the amount of Rs.5000/-to the account of complainant, when this deduction came to their notice. It is averred that once the manual deduction was made and thereafter, the amount was debited by computer system automatically. It is further averred by them that out of Rs.5,750/-they have refunded Rs.5000/-into the account of complainant and remaining amount of Rs.750/-is deposited by them with Government as tax. It is asserted that OP bank is a public undertaking and it has no account head which could be debited with Rs.750/-for crediting this amount to the account of complainant. It is reiterated that there is no deficiency in service on the part of OPs and prayed for dismissal of complaint with costs.

9                                                We have heard the learned counsel for parties and have very carefully perused the affidavits & documents placed on record by complainant as well as OPs.

 10                                              It is observed that case of the complainant is that he is having cc limit account with OP-1 and on 31.12.2016, OP-1 deducted Rs.5,750/-as processing charges from his account. On reconciliation with pass book, he noticed that OP-1 deducted Rs.5,750/-from his cc account two times i.e on 31.12.2016 and again on  28.02.2017, which is quite wrong. On bringing the fact to the notice of OPs, they refunded Rs.5000/-to his account, but withheld the remaining amount of Rs.750/-. Grievance of complainant is that despite his several repeated requests, Ops did not refund the entire illegally deducted charges to his account, which amounts to deficiency in service. On the other hand, OPs admitted their fault that amount of Rs.5750/-was wrongly deducted from the account of complainant and asserted that they have refunded Rs.5000/-to his account and stressed mainly on the point that amount of Rs.750/-has been deposited by them with  Government as tax and they are not able to refund the same.

 11                                                 From the careful observation of evidence produced by complainant and Ops, it is clear and admitted case of the parties that complainant is consumer of Ops and amount of Rs.5750/-was wrongly debited by them. There is no dispute regarding refund of Rs.5000/-made by OPs to complainant as complainant has also admitted that he has received refund of Rs.5000/-and has prayed for remaining refund amount of Rs.750/-, which OPs are refusing to pay on the ground that they deposited this amount with government as tax and they are not able to refund the same. This amount is debited from the account of complainant due to negligent and wrong act of OPs and there is no fault on the part of complainant. Even if, the OPs deposited the amount of Rs.750/-with government as tax, then in that case also, the complainant is not liable to suffer this loss, which is caused due to the fault of OPs. They cannot deny and escape their liability to refund this amount to complainant.

12                                                In view of aforementioned facts and circumstances of this case, complaint in hand is hereby allowed with direction to Ops to refund the amount of Rs.750/-which they deducted wrongly from the account of complainant alongwith interest @ 9% per anum from 28.02.2017 when they debited the account of complainant on account Processing Charges till realization. OPs are further directed to pay Rs.1,500/-to complainant as consolidated compensation for harassment and mental agony suffered by him including litigation expenses. OPs are directed to comply with the order within one month from the date of receipt of the copy of the order, failing which, complainant is entitled to proceed against OPs Bank under Section 25 and 27 of the Consumer Protection Act. Copy of the order be supplied to parties free of cost as per law. File be consigned to the record room.

Announced in open Forum:

Dated: 14.09.2017

                 Member                    President   

                (P Singla)                (Ajit Aggarwal)