Brief facts of consumer complaint is that :-

Complainant allege that Govt. of India has established an unit namely Investor Education & Protection Fund/ OP-3 u/s 205C of the Companies Act, 1956 under which unclaimed funds on account of dividends, matured deposits, matured debentures, shares, share application money etc. are transferred through the IEPF/OP-3  to the Govt. of India by the Company which are unclaimed. Complainant further allege that he has 20 shares and dividend of M/s Ambuja Cements Ltd. and 38 shares and dividend of M/s J. K. Lakshmi Cement Ltd. which were transferred to OP-3  by the respective companies due to lack of communication and proper address of the complainant as he changed his address. When the matter brought to the notice of the complainant, he appealed to respective companies to refund the shares but the companies advised him to submit the claim to IEPF/OP 3. Accordingly, the complainant submitted on-line claim through Form No. IEPF-5 for 38 shares and dividend of M/s J. K. Lakshmi Cement Ltd. on 23.08.2019 with all required documents and also collected online acknowledgement vide Sl. No. H84511526 dated 23.08.2019. Complainant also submitted online claim for 20 shares and dividend of M/s Ambuja Cements Ltd. on 12.10.2019 through form No. IEPF-5 with all require documents to the OP 3 against acknowledgement bearing Sl. No. R02954451 dated 12.10.2019. Despite several emails, OP 3 was requested to refund the shares and other benefits but such emails were unattended. OP 3 vide email dated 13.12.2019  informed  the complainant regarding discrepancy in his bank account against Sl. No. H84511526 and on the self same day complainant re-submitted Form No. IEPF-5 rectifying his bank account number. In spite of that the OP 3 did not refund the share value to the complainant. Deputy General Manager and CPIO vide letter dated 11.03.2020 informed the complainant that his claim against Sl. No. H84511526 is pending for approval by the OP 3. Clause 7 of sub clause 6 of the IEPF Act specifically stated that the authority will dispose the application within 60 days from the date of receipt thereof. OP 3 did not found any discrepancy against application bearing Sl. No. R02954451 dated 12.10.2019 of  M/s Ambuja Cements Ltd. OP 3 willfully neglected to refund the shares and dividend value. The acts and attitude of the OP-3 tantamount to deficiency in service and unfair trade practice. Being aggrieved and activities of the OPs, complainant has filed the instant consumer complaint before this Commission for acceptance of the prayer made out therein.

OP 1 did not file WV within due time provided under the Consumer Protection Act. No request for condonation of delay or extension of time for filing WV was made. OPs 2 & 3 despite service of notice of the complaint failed to file WV. Therefore, the right of the OPs to file WV was closed vide order dated 18.01.2021.

To establish his case complainant adduced evidence on affidavit and also produced relevant documents in support of his claim. We have travelled the evidence of the complainant and the documents of record. On perusal of those documents, we find that the complainant submitted Form No. IEPF-5 to OP 3 against the shares and dividend of M/s Ambuja Cements Ltd. and M/s J. K. Lakshmi Cement Ltd. Deputy General Manager & CPIO informed the complainant vide letter dated 11.03.2020 that the claim of the complainant is under process but till date the shares and dividend amount is not credited to the Bank Account of the complainant. Vide  Notification dated 05.09.2016 Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Govt. of India made guidelines for refund to claimants which read as follows:-

“7. Refunds to claimants from Fund. – (1) Any person, whose shares, unclaimed dividend, matured deposits, matured debentures, application money due for refund, or interest thereon, sale proceeds of fractional shares, redemption proceeds of preference shares, etc. has been  transferred to the Fund, may claim the shares under provision to sub-section (6) of section 124 or apply for refund, under clause (a) of sub-section (3) of section 125 or under proviso to sub-section (3) of section 125, as the case may be, to the Authority by making an application in Form IEPF-5 online available on website

(2) The claimant shall after making an application online in Form IEPF-5 under rue (1), send the same duly signed by him also with, requisite documents as enumerated in Form IEPF-5 to the concerned company at its registered office for verification of his claim.

(3) The company shall, within fifteen days of receipt of claim form, send a verification report to the Authority in the format specified by the Authority along with all documents submitted by the claimant.

(4) After verification of the entitlement of the claimant –

(a) to the amount claimed, the Authority and then Drawing and Disbursement Officer of the Authority shall present a bill to the Pay Accounts Officer for e-payment as per the guidelines.

(b) to the shares claimed, the Authority shall issue a refund sanction order with the approval of the Competent Authority and shall either credit the shares which are lying with depository participant in IEPF suspense account (name of the company) to the demat account of the claimant to the extent of the claimant’s entitlement or in case of the physical certificates, if any, cancel the duplicate certificate an transfer the shares in favour of the claimant.

(5) The authority shall, in its records, cause a note to be made of all the payments made under sub-rule (4).

(6) An application received for refund of any claim under this rule duly verified by the concerned company shall be disposed of by the Authority within sixty days from the date of receipt of the verification report from the company, complete in all respects and any delay beyond sixty days shall be recorded in writing specifying the reasons for the delay and the same shall be communicated to the claimant in writing or by electronic means.

(7) In case, where the application is incomplete, a communication shall be sent to the claimant by the Authority detailing deficiencies of the application.

(8) In case, claimant is a legal heir or successor or administrator or nominee of the registered security holder, he has to ensure that the transmission process is completed by the company before filing any claim with the Authority.

(9) The claimant shall file only one consolidated claim in respect of a company in respect of a company in a financial year.

(10) The company shall be solely liable under all circumstances whatsoever to indemnity the IEPF Authority in case of any dispute or lawsuit that may be initiated due to any incongruity or inconsistency or disparity in the verification report or otherwise. The IEPF Authority shall not be liable to indemnity the security holder or Company for any liability arising out of any discrepancy in verification report submitted etc. leading to any litigation complaint arising thereof.”

In terms of clause 7 of the Notification dated 05.09.2016 Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Govt. of India is bound to refund the claims of the complainant within 60 days from the date of receipt of verification report from the company otherwise they are bound to inform the complainant about the reason of delay. Record speaks that complainant submitted Form No. IEPF-5 to the OP 3 on 23.08.2019 and 12.10.2019 but the OP 3 did not dispose the applications within 60 days from the date of receipt of the verification report from the company though the Deputy General Manager and CPIO vide letter dated 11.03.2020 informed the complainant that the claim against Sl. Nos. R02954451 and R16932303 are under process of OP 3. The allegation of the complainant is that till date the OP 3 did not credit the amount of shares and dividend value to the Bank Account of the complainant. If any inconsistency and disparity in the verification report, it is the duty of the OP-3 to communicate such discrepancy to the complainant.  We do not find any reason as to why the OP 3 did not credit the amount against the shares and dividend of the Bank Account of  the complainant. Therefore, we hold that the OP-3 demonstrated a gesture of deficiency of service and indulge in unfair trade practice for which the complainant suffered mental pain and agony. There is no contrary evidence on the part of the OPs to reburt the evidence of the complainant. The evidence of the complainant remains unchallenged. In absence of any contrary and controverting materials as well as evidence and documents on record, we are of the opinion that the complainant has been able to prove his case against the OP-3. Thus, the complainant is entitled to get relief as prayed for.

In the light of the brief discussion made above :-

1. The OP-3/IEPF is directed to settle and refund the shares value and other related claim of the complainant against Sl. Nos. H84511526 and R02954451 and also to issue statement of accounts showing the shares and all other benefits they had received from M/s Ambuja Cements Ltd. and M/s J. K. Lakshmi Cement Ltd.
2. OP 3 is also directed to pay Rs. 10,000/- for mental agony and harassment to the complainant
3. The OP 3 is further directed to pay Rs. 5,000/- as litigation cost to the complainant.
4. The above directions should be complied within 60 days from today.

A copy of the judgment be provided to the parties as mandated by the CP Act. The judgment be uploaded forthwith on the website of this commission for perusal of the parties.

Thus the consumer complaint is allowedex parte against the OP-3 and dismissed against the OPs 1 and 2.

Dictated & Corrected by

President                   Member (L)                           Member (M)               President