BEFORE THE A.P.STATE CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION: AT HYDERABAD.

F.A.No.89/2013 against C.C.No.29/2012 District Forum,  Ranga Reddy District.

Between

M/s ICICI Bank Limited,

Represented by its Manager,

ICICI Bank Towers, Survey

No.115/27, Plot No.12,

Nanakramguda Village,

Serilingampally,

Ranga Reddy District-500 032                                    Appellant/

                                                                                      Opp.party

And

Mr.Kranti Gupta S/o.late L.N.Gupta

Aged about 64 years, H.No.108,

Pasha court, 680, Green lands Road,

Punjagutta, Hyderabad-82.                                         Respondent/

                                                                                      Complainant  

Counsel for the Appellant     :  M/s S.Nagesh Reddy

Counsel for the Respondent:  Mr.Asadullah Pasha

QUORUM:          SRI R.LAKSHMI NARASIMHA RAO, HON’BLE Incharge President

AND

SRI S.BHUJANGA RAO, HON’BLE MEMBER.         

WEDNESDAY, THE TWENTY SEVENTH DAY OF NOVEMBER,

TWO THOUSAND THIRTEEN

Order (Per Sri R.Lakshmi Narasimha Rao, Hon’ble Incharge President)

The opposite party is the appellant.

The respondent filed the complaint to direct the appellant to issue full and final settlement letter as he has paid the amount of Rs.45,000/-  towards full and final settlement and for closure of the credit card account vide card No.44774741202500009 and to pay Rs.5,05,000/- towards compensation for causing mental agony and costs of Rs.5000/-.

The respondent submits that he is a businessman doing business and he obtained credit card from the opposite party vide card No.4477474120250009 and using the card since the date it is issued.  The respondent submitted that in November, 2010, he suffered ‘Multiple Myloma’ disease which included chemotherapy and he suffered from Pneumonia attack and was treated at Apollo hospital and kept in ICU and could not pay the credit card payments as on March, 2011.  The respondent submitted that in April, 2011, the appellant served notices and also contacted him by way of telephone and the employees of the appellant contacted the complainant morning and evening at his house with regard to payment of Rs.2,10,000/- towards credit card due amount.  The respondent submitted that the actual amount to be paid by him was Rs.44,057.43 and the appellant charged abnormal interest and on 26-4-2011 sent Mr.Rajesh Das, Executive for collecting the amount and after negotiations, the Executive of the appellant accepted to receive Rs.45,000/- towards full and final settlement and gave a receipt in writing stating that the  amount of Rs.45,000/- was received towards full and final settlement and destroyed the credit card in the presence of the respondent and his wife

The executive of the appellant stated that it will take some time to update the bills and if notices were served, the respondent should ignore the same.  The respondent submitted that he received notice from the appellant which shows that only an amount of Rs.45,000/- has been credited as part of outstanding amount and it was not shown as full and final settlement and the appellant’s employees repeatedly demanded the amount on 10-8-2011 and 15-9-2011 and because of the harassment, he was not able to recover from his ailments and his wife also suffered heart attack.  The respondent submitted that on 04-11-2011 he received another letter from the appellant to clear the outstanding amount and as the appellant received Rs.45,000/- towards full and final settlement, the respondent filed the present complaint.

The appellant resisted the complaint and submitted that on submission of the application of the respondent, it issued credit card to him and he is utilizing the same.   The appellant submitted that the respondent  paid the credit card amount promptly for some time and thereafter became a defaulter and was due an amount of Rs.2,48,222/- to the appellant as on 12-3-2012 which was reflected in the statement of account dt.28-11-2011.  Out of the outstanding amount of Rs.2,48,222/- the respondent paid only Rs.45,000/- to the appellant  and the said amount is not towards full and final settlement but it was part payment. 

The appellant submitted that as per procedure, first the statement will be decided by the Manager of the bank and it will be issued on the Letter Head of the bank duly signed by the authorities signature of the bank and it also informed the respondent that there is no full and final settlement and he has to pay the balance amount.  The appellant submitted that its executive cannot destroy the card and the respondent being a defaulter trying to escape his liability filed the present complaint violating the terms and conditions governing the usage of the card and prayed for dismissal of the complaint.

The respondent filed his affidavit and relied on Exs.A1 to A7 and the appellant filed affidavit evidence of its authorized signatory and relied on Ex.B1.

The District Forum allowed the complaint directing the appellant to close the credit card Account vide credit card No.4477474120250009 of the respondent immediately and after closing the credit card, the appellant was directed to give ‘No due certificate’.

Aggrieved by the order of the District Forum, the opposite party-bank has filed appeal contending  that the District Forum erred in relying and believing a piece of paper produced by the respondent alleged to have been issued by the executive of the appellant which is purported to have been scribbled with a word full and final settlement and put his signature where as it is unauthentic and invalid.  The appellant further contended that settlement of any outstanding in any account that too such a considerable amount of outstanding cannot be decided by collection executive and there is procedure involved for settling the disputes and it will be decided by the head of the particular department of the particular region of the appellant bank after arriving at an agreement for settlement.  A letter of settlement will be issued to the customer wherein the outstanding due in the  account and settlement figure arrived at will be mentioned and the customer will be given a stipulated period within which he needs to pay the amount failing which the said settlement will stand cancelled.

        The point for consideration are :

i)             Whether the respondent is entitled to final settlement of account in terms of receipt issued by executive of the appellant-bank?

ii)           To what relief?

POINT NO.1:              The respondent is the account holder of the appellant-bank with  and that the respondent applied for issuance of credit card facility which was extended to him by the appellant after scrutinizing the credentials of the respondent and the appellant issued credit card bearing number No.4477474120250009  to the respondent  who has been using it for meeting his requirements. The respondent submitted that he was regular in paying the credit card bills which the appellant-bank denied on the premise that the respondent had been irregular in payment of the due amount throughout the usage of the credit card.

        The respondent relied upon a single statement of account in support of his plea that he had been regular in payment of the credit card related dues whereas the contention of the appellant is that a single statement of account does not form basis for proving the regular payment of the amount due that fell as and when the credit card was used. We find strength in the contention of the learned counsel for the appellant-bank as the  same flows from the statement of account as follows:

Statement date     due date                amount due                   Total amount

28.05.2007           19.06.2007           Rs.8,670/-.           Rs.1,73,395/-.

28.6.2007             20-7-2007            Rs.9290/-             Rs.1,85,787.62

28.7.2007             19-8-2007            Rs.9170/-             Rs.1,83,365.88

28.8.2007             19-9-2007            Rs.9490/-             Rs.1,89,632.31

28.9.2007             21-10-2007          Rs.10460/-            Rs.2,09,079.28

28.10.2007           19-11-2007          Rs.10380/-           Rs.2,07,436.59

28.11.2007           20-12-2007          Rs.10130/-           Rs.2,02,597.25

28.1.2008             19-2-2008            Rs.9600/-             Rs.1,91,900.82

29.2.2008             23-3-2008            Rs.9810/-             Rs.1,96,186.28

……..

28/11/2011          16/12/2011          Rs.72740/-            Rs.2,48,222.70/-

The respondent submitted that he was diagnosed with suffering from ‘Multiple Myeloma’ in the month of November, 2010 and in the month of February,2011 the respondent’s wife informed the representatives of the appellant-bank that as the respondent was sick, he was not able to pay the credit card dues and sought for time for clearance of the due amount. He has submitted that Rajesh Das, a representative of the appellant-bank after contacting his superiors on 26.04.2011 accepted a sum of Rs.45,000/- towards full and final settlement of the credit card account  against outstanding amount of Rs.2,10,000/- and destroyed the credit card.

        The learned counsel for the appellant has contended that pursuant to request of the respondent the Manager of the appellant-bank had sent executive for collecting a sum of Rs.45,000/-as part payment from the respondent. He has submitted that the respondent and the appellant had not arrived at any settlement and the respondent had not requested for any settlement and the collection executive of the appellant-bank is not empowered to arrive at any settlement with the customers of the appellant-bank. It is contended that either the bank or the customer would destroy the credit card and not the executive of the bank.

        Admittedly, the respondent used to obtain authentic receipts for payment made in regard to the due amount pertaining to his credit card account. The executive of the appellant-bank had not issued the credit card to the respondent. The appellant contends that the executive is not its employee. As such the executive is not the employee of the appellant-bank.  The appellant-bank issued demand notices to the respondent subsequent to the payment of Rs.45,000/- which according to the respondent was made as full and final settlement of his account. The respondent had not protested against issuing of the demand notice nor did he bring it to the notice of the appellant-bank that its executive issued the receipt towards full and final satisfaction of his account.

        The appellant-bank issued notice on 10/8/2011  wherein  the charges levied and the procedure thereof and the appellant’s readiness for  proposal for settlement amicable to both of them is made in the following terms:

7. Our client gives you the last opportunity to resolve the matter by repayment of the dues.  Our client is ready and willing to have a discussion with you and arrive at a settlement proposal which is amicably acceptable to both the parties.  Our client has instructed us to suggest you to attend our client’s office at the below mentioned address.

          There was no response from the respondent for the aforementioned notice got issued by the appellant-bank and thereafter a reminder was issued on 15-9-2011 bringing to the notice of the respondent that his account would be hot listed and the appellant bank would and  its intention to take legal action without issuing further notice to the respondent.  Paragraphs 3 to 7 of the notice read as under:

3. Further, my client states that their officials were constantly following up with you for clearing the outstanding dues.  However, you have not responded to any of y client’s request for clearing the dues nor you have cleared and payment towards the outstanding dues.

4. My client wish to inform you that as per Monthly Statement of Account dated 28-8-2011, there was an outstanding amount of Rs.216787.38 due and payable by you.  Kindly note that despite having been given sufficient time and opportunity, you have failed and neglected to clear your outstanding dues under the said card facility which were payable on demand.  Further you may note that you have also not responded to the intimations corresponded to you reminding you for making payment of outstanding dues or minimum amount dues.

5. You may note that the said credit card is the ‘absolute property’ of my client, in respect of which you were required to abide by the terms and conditions of the Bank.  By misusing the said credit card, you have illegally enriched yourself and have committed an offence of misappropriation of ‘public money’.  Hence you may note that you are liable to be punished for causing wrongful gain to yourself and by causing wrongful loss to my client.  Thereby you have caused harassment to my clients.  In addition to this, you have committed “breach of trust’ reposed on you by my clients.  My client represents to us that as against the promise made by you, you have become a gross defaulter and intentional default on your part in not paying the amount utilized by you had caused considerable loss to my client.

6. As per current month statement of account dated 28-8-2011, there is a current outstanding of Rs.216787.38 which you were requested to pay at the earliest, within 7 days of receipt of this Notice, failing which we have been peremptorily instructed by my clients to initiate suitable criminal action against you for the aforementioned offenses, entirely at your risk, costs incurred therein and the consequences thereof.  This is without prejudice to my client’s right to initiate such other Civil Proceedings against you to recover the entire outstanding with interest and other applicable charges.

7. In addition to this, my client reserves their right to hotlist your name with Master and Visa Franchise and also with other Banks and Non Banking financial institutions to safeguard their interest. Further, my client also reserves their right to publish your photograph in the newspaper to create awareness amongst the public at large about your intention to default.

          Thereafter the respondent had got issued notice dated 5.10.2011 stating for the first time that there was settlement of his credit card account made by the executive of the appellant-bank for which the appellant issued the letter dated 4.11.2011 informing the respondent that as per its record there was no settlement made with the respondent. The letter reads as under

          Dear Sir,

                   Reg: Your notices dated 10-8-2011 and 15-9-2011 regarding credit

                             card number 4477474120250009

Under instructions from Mr.Kranti Gupta (hereinafter referred as my client), I am issuing this following notice:

That you have sent two Demand notices dated 10-8-2011 and 15-9-2011 to my client.  The first notice dated 10-8-2011 states that my client has an outstanding due of Rs.207511.48 in respect of ICICI credit card numbered as 4477474120250009. The second notice dated 15-9-2011 states that my client has an outstanding of Rs.216787.39 rupees.

That your clients representative one Mr.Rajesh Das has approached my client on 26-4-2011 and after negotiations during which he had contacted his superiors many times on the phone he had accepted on behalf of your client Rs.45,000/- as full and final settlement towards ICICI credit card numbered as 4477474120250009 (Annexure 1) Your clients representative had also destroyed and taken the destroyed credit card, payment and my clients medical reports along with him.

That even after full and final settlement my client has been receiving demand notices from you repeatedly.  That my client is recovering from cancer and due to this harassment from your client, my clients wife has just suffered from a heart attack.  Medical reports are annexed as (Annexure 2)

That when you have already taken full and final settlement there cannot be any outstanding dues.

The amount that was purchased by my client was Rs.44,057.43 and all the reaming amount was interest charges from your client.

Please cease and desist sending such notices as there has already been a full and final settlement between my client and yours.  Your client is needlessly harassing my client and his family who have been affected tremendously by this harassment.

Hence take notice that unless steps are taken immediately to close this matter my clients will be constrained to initiate legal proceedings against your client.

          The respondent had failed to prove that he made settlement of his credit card account with the appellant-bank. The respondent had not paid the outstanding dues and despite the notice issued by the appellant-bank. In the facts and circumstances, no deficiency in service is established on the part of the appellant-bank in demanding the outstanding dues. However, in view of the cancer the respondent suffering from and the subsequent misrepresentation and misconduct of its executive, this Commission expect the appellant-bank to consider waiver of penal interest and other interest and take steps for settlement of his credit card account.

        In the result, the appeal is allowed setting aside the order of the District Forum. There shall be no separate order as to costs.

                                                                             INCHARGE PRESIDENT.

                                                                             MEMBER.

JM                                                                         Dt.27-11-2013.