DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM, FARIDKOT
CC No. : 117 of 2018
Date of Institution: 10.07.2018
Date of Decision : 09.04.2019
Sukhmander Singh aged about 43 years son of Suba Singh son of Niranjan Singh r/o Village & P.O. Pipli, Tehsil and District Faridkot.
...Complainant
Versus
- M/s Sahara Credit Cooperative Society Limited, through its Authorized Signatory, having registered office at Sahara India Bhawan, 1, Kapoorthala Complex, Aliganj, Lucknow-226024.
- M/s Sahara Credit Cooperative Society Limited through its Managing Director, having registered office at Sahara India Bhawan, 1, Kapoorthala Complex, Aliganj, Lucknow-226024.
....Opposite parties
Complaint under Section 12 of the
Consumer Protection Act, 1986.
Quorum: Sh. Ajit Aggarwal, President,
Smt. Param Pal Kaur, Member.
Present: Sh Atul Gupta, Ld Counsel for Complainant,
Sh Rajesh Duggal, 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 them to refund the amount of Rs.3,00,000/- alongwith interest and for further
cc no. - 117 of 2018
directing them to pay Rs.2,00,000/- as compensation for mental agony and harassment besides litigation expenses of Rs.25,000/-.
2 Briefly stated, the case of the complainant is that OPs floated a scheme for cash investment and complainant deposited Rs. 3 lacs in the account of Ops in the name of Sahara Credit Cooperative Society on 14.06.2012. Ops issued certificates having their logo and hologram in favour of complainant bearing no. 35100 5705601, 35100 5705602, 35100 5705603, 35100 5705604, 35100 5705605, 35100 5705606, 35100 5705607, 35100 5705608, 35100 5705609, 35100 5705610, 35100 5705611, 35100 5705612, 35100 5705613, 35100 5705614, 35100 5705615, 35100 5705616, 35100 5705617, 35100 5705618, 35100 5705619 and 35100 4901300 for Rs.15,000/-each with date of maturity as 14.06.2020 but gave liberty to complainant to get these certificates enchased even before the maturity date. It is submitted that complainant requested OPs several times to pay his amount of Rs.3 lacs alongwith maturity value and interest upto date, but Ops have neither refunded his principal amount nor interest thereon, which amounts to deficiency in service and trade mal practice on their part. Even legal notice issued by complainant through his counsel to Ops bore no fruit. All this caused great harassment to complainant and he has prayed for seeking directions to OPs refund his amount of Rs.3 lacs. He has prayed for accepting the present complaint alongwith compensation and litigation expenses besides the main relief. Hence, the instant complaint.
3 The Counsel for complainant was heard with regard to admission of the complaint and vide order dated 11.07.2018, complaint was admitted and notice was ordered to be issued to the opposite party.
4 On receipt of notice, OPs appeared in the Forum through counsel and filed reply, wherein asserted that complaint filed by complainant is false and frivolous and asserted that complainant became member of OPs Society at Branch Office, Hansi and thus, cause of action if any arises at Hansi and this Forum has no territorial jurisdiction to hear and try the present complaint. It is further averred that complainant is not the consumer of answering Ops and there is no relationship of consumer and service provider between complainant and answering OPs. Ops are Society duly registered unde Multi State Cooperative Society Act, 2002 and complainant is member of Society and thus, for any dispute between Society and its member, consumer complaint is not maintainable. It is further averred that complainant did not array the branch of Hansi where he entered into agreement as party in present complaint and thus, complaint is bad for non-joinder of necessary parties. As per terms and conditions, Member is liable to surrender the original certificate alongwith application for demand of maturity amount, but in present case, complainant did not surrender the original certificate and did not submit application for demand of maturity amount and he never approached them regarding refund of his amounts and thus, he has himself failed to fulfil the formalities regarding refund of amount deposited by him. Moreover, demand raised by complainant is at enhanced rate of interest, which is not permissible. It is further averred that no cause of action arises against them and asserted that there is no deficiency in service on their part and prayed for dismissal of complaint with costs.
5 Parties were given proper opportunities to prove their respective case. The complainant tendered in evidence his affidavit Ex.C-1 and documents Ex C-2 to C-24 and then, closed the evidence.
6 In order to rebut the evidence of complainant, ld counsel for OPs tendered in evidence affidavit of Girish Kumar Singh Ex OP-1 and documents Ex OP-2 to Ex OP-21 and closed the same on behalf of OPs.
7 We have heard the learned counsel for the complainant as well as for opposite party and have also very carefully gone through the affidavits and documents placed on the file.
8 From the careful perusal of record and pleadings put forward by respective parties, it is observed that case of the complainant is that on assurance OPs, complainant deposited Rs. 3 lacs in the account of Ops on 14.06.2012, in the name of Sahara Credit Cooperative Society in a cash investment scheme floated by Ops and Ops issued certificates having their logo and hologram in favour of complainant bearing no.35100 5705601, 35100 5705602, 35100 5705603, 35100 5705604, 35100 5705605, 35100 5705606, 35100 5705607, 35100 5705608, 35100 5705609, 35100 5705610, 35100 5705611, 35100 5705612, 35100 5705613, 35100 5705614, 35100 5705615, 35100 5705616, 35100 5705617, 35100 5705618, 35100 5705619 and 35100 4901300 for Rs.15,000/-each with date of maturity as 14.06.2020 but gave liberty to complainant to get these certificates enchased even before the maturity date. Complainant requested OPs several times to refund his amount of Rs.3 lacs alongwith maturity value and interest thereon, but Ops have neither refunded his principal amount nor interest, which amounts to deficiency in service and has caused great harassment to complainant. Even legal notice served by complainant bore no fruit. He has prayed for accepting the present complaint and stressed on documents Ex C-1 to Ex C-24.
9 To controvert the allegations of complainant, ld counsel for OPs averred that complainant became member of OPs Society at Branch Office, Hansi and thus, cause of action if any arises at Hansi and this Forum has no territorial jurisdiction to decide the present matter. Complainant is not the consumer of Ops and there is no relationship of consumer and service provider between complainant and OPs. Ops are Society duly registered under Multi State Cooperative Society Act, 2002 and complainant is member of Society and thus, for any dispute between Society and its member, consumer complaint is not maintainable. Moreover, complainant did not array the branch of Hansi where he entered into agreement as party in present complaint and thus, complaint is bad for non-joinder of necessary parties. As per terms and conditions, Member is liable to surrender the original certificate alongwith application for demand of maturity amount, but complainant did not do so and himself did not surrender the original certificate alongwith application for demand of maturity amount. It is further argued that complainant neither approached them regarding refund of his amounts nor fulfilled requisite formalities regarding refund of principal amount. It is further argued that no cause of action arises against them. There is no deficiency in service on their part and prayed for dismissal of complaint with costs.
10 To prove his case, ld counsel for complainant placed on record copy of receipt dated 14.06.2012 ExC-2 that clearly proves the pleadings of complainant that he deposited amount of Rs.3 lacs with Ops in the account of Sahara India Cooperative Society. Ex C-3 to Ex C-22 are copies of twenty certificates issued by Sahara Credit Cooperative Society Limited in the name of
complainant on 14.06.2012 for Rs.15,000/-each amounting to Rs. 3 lacs further prove the pleadings of complainant that Ops issued him these certificates in lieu of Rs.3 lacs deposited by him with Ops. Ex C-23 is copy of legal notice that reveals the grievance of complainant that despite repeated requests and issuance of legal notice, Ops did not refund the amount of Rs.3 lacs deposited by complainant towards them. Through his affidavit Ex C-1, complainant has reiterated his grievance. On the contrary, plea taken by Ops is that complainant neither approached them nor made any request in written for refund of his amount. However, in the light of legal notice Ex C-23, there is no doubt that Ops have sufficient notice that complainant has requested them for refund of his Rs. 3 lacs. Another allegation of OPs that this Forum has no jurisdiction to decide the present complaint has no legs to stand upon because payment of Rs.3 lac is made by complainant at Faridkot through Punjab National Bank, Faridkot. It is observed that despite repeated request and issuance of legal notice, OPs did not do anything needful and have failed to redress the grievance of complainant. Ld Counsel for complainant has produced sufficient and cogent evidence to prove his case. Documents placed on record by complainant are fully authentic and are beyond any doubt.
11 From the above discussion, the present complaint is allowed. The OPs are directed to pay Rs.6,08,400/- as maturity value of the certificates after 72 months as agreed by themselves on the back of certificate as pre stage maturity value along with further interest @ 9% PA from 10.07.2018 i.e. from the filing of the present complaint till final realization. The Ops are further directed to pay Rs.6000/- as compensation on account of mental harassment, agony and Rs.3000/- as litigation expenses. Compliance of this order be made within one month of receipt of the copy of the order, failing which complainant shall be entitled to proceed under Section 25 and 27 of the Consumer Protection Act. Copy of the order be supplied to parties free of costs as per law. File be consigned to record room.
Announced in Open Forum
Dated: 09.04.2019
(Param Pal Kaur) (Ajit Aggarwal)
Member President