BEFORE THE DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM, SIRSA.
Consumer Complaint no.97 of 2015
Date of Institution : 25.5.2015
Date of Decision : 4.10.2016.
Sneh Lata wife of Sh. Manoj Kumar son of Sh. Babu Ram (daughter of Sh. Kasturi Lal), resident of House No.136, Gali Bangali Wali, near Railway Phatak, Ward No.19, Mandi Dabwali, District Sirsa.
……Complainant.
Versus.
1. Magma Finance Company Limited, Sirsa, Office Shop No.123, 1st Floor in front of Maruti agency, Dabwali Road, Sirsa through Chief Manager/ Authorized Officer.
2. Magma Finance Company Limited, Teen Kosi, near Siyal Hotel, Bathinda (Punjab) through Chief Manager/ Authorized Officer.
3. Magma Finance Company Limited, Magma House, 24 Park street, Kolkata, West Bengal, Main office through Managing Director.
...…Opposite parties.
Complaint under Section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act,1986.
Before: SHRI S.B.LOHIA…………………PRESIDENT
SH. RANBIR SINGH PANGHAL ……….. ……MEMBER.
Present: Sh.Ganesh Sethi, Advocate for complainant.
Sh. Saurabh Nagpal, Advocate for the opposite parties.
ORDER
Case of complainant, in brief is that complainant applied for house loan of Rs.10,00,000/- with the opposite parties and in lieu thereof, the opposite parties obtained signatures of the complainant and her husband on loan forms, letter pad, on blank cheques and on blank papers and also obtained a sum of Rs.5618/- from the husband of complainant on 23.7.2014 through cheque No.601719. On inquiry from the opposite parties, they stated that they are getting the above said documents and charging Rs.5618/- for sanctioning house loan. Thereafter, the complainant and her husband visited the office of ops No.1 & 2 at Sirsa and Bathinda several times and requested them to sanction the loan upon which ops No.1 & 2 stated that if they want to get sanctioned the loan, then they will have to pay a sum of Rs.10,000/- as commission otherwise they will not sanction the house loan. When the complainant and her husband objected for it and demanded back loan file, letter paid, blank cheques and blank papers and also Rs.5618/-, the ops assured them that they will return the same very shortly. However, after passing of some time, when the complainant and her husband again asked the ops to return the above said documents alongwith amount of Rs.5618/-, they misbehaved with them and after days, they refused to return the above said documents and amount of Rs.5168/-. The complainant also came to know that ops No.1 & 2 have also obtained an amount of Rs.5618/- from Sh. Rajiv Sachdeva, proprietor of Radhika Steel Works for sanctioning loan but have also not given any loan to him and the opposite parties are deceiving the public by dishonestly receiving the money on the pretext of sanctioning the loan. The complainant also reported the matter to the police against the ops but no action was taken. The ops have cheated the complainant and have caused mental harassment and financial loss and as such she is entitled to compensation of Rs.4,00,000/- besides refund of Rs.5618/- alongwith interest and also litigation expenses to the tune of Rs.5,000/-. Hence, this complaint.
2. Upon notice, opposite parties appeared and filed reply. It is pleaded that complainant has applied loan with her own free will with op no.2 at bathinda for Rs.25,00,000/- for construction of the house. The loan was applied through Shivam Financial Bathinda. As per record and loan application form, loan applied amount was Rs.25,00,000/- and not Rs.10,00,000/- as wrongly mentioned in the complaint. The complainant had been asked to provide required documents and complete the formalities whichever is required for granting of the loan and the complainant has been charged with Rs.5618/- as file charges and process fee through account payee cheque with the condition that the payment of file charge and process fee is non refundable, which fact is already mentioned on the application form. However, no blank document was got signed or received from the complainant. The loan was processed from Bathinda branch and was sent to Hisar for credit verification. Despite so many reminders and request, complainant has not provided property chain for legal verification of the property, fresh and clear copy of income tax return because ITR date and serial no. were not clear. As per report, there is some other loans in the name of complainant and as per requirement she has not provided loan track i.e. account statements of other loan accounts. Remaining contents of the complaint have been denied.
3. The complainant has tendered her affidavit Ex.C1, affidavit of Rajiv Sachdeva as Ex.C2 and documents Ex.C3 to Ex.C10. On the other hand, ops tendered affidavit Ex.R1 and documents Ex.R2 to R5.
4. We have heard learned counsel for the parties and have gone through the case file carefully.
5. According to the opposite parties, the complainant has applied house loan for Rs.25,00,000/- and not Rs.10,00,000/- as alleged by the complainant. It is further the stand of the opposite parties that complainant has failed to necessary documents i.e. fresh and clear copy of income tax return and details of other loans availed by the complainant which were needed by the opposite parties for sanction of house loan to the complainant and the complainant has been charged with Rs.5618/- as file charges with the condition that the payment of file charge is non refundable which is clearly mentioned in the application form. However, in the loan form application Ex.R2, it is also mentioned that commitment fee is collected by ops for the purpose of appraising the application and the same is dependent on the outcome/ result of such appraisal. The ops charged amount of Rs.5618/- from the complainant for appraisal of her application and same was dependent upon the outcome/ result of application. Since the loan has not been sanctioned by the opposite parties, hence, the complainant is entitled for the refund of processing fee of Rs.5618/- from ops.
6. Thus, we accept the present complaint and direct the opposite parties to refund an amount of Rs.5618/- to the complainant alongwith interest @9% per annum from the date of complaint i.e. 25.5.2015 till actual realization. Besides this, the complainant is also awarded Rs.5000/- as compensation on account of her harassment and Rs.2,000/- as litigation expenses which shall be paid by the opposite parties to the complainant. This order should be complied by the opposite parties within a period of 45 days from today, failing which complainant will be entitled to initiate proceedings under Sections 25/27 of the Act against the ops. A copy of this order be supplied to the parties free of costs. File be consigned to record room after due compliance.
Announced. President,
Dated: 4.10.2016. District Consumer Disputes
Redressal Forum, Sirsa.
Member.
