1. The grievance of the complainant who has approached this Forum under section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 is that he was lured by the Opposite party to take their credit card. Accordingly, he took a credit card from the Opposite party. As per item no.6.1 of the terms and conditions of Opposite party, the Opposite party was required to send monthly statement of account to him, regarding the use of the card and if there is any liability to pay any amount unless he specifically opts for sending statement of account through E-mail. As long as he was receiving bills through post, he had not defaulted any payment of the bill at any time. He had not received bills for the month of July and August 2006 and upon the Opposite party giving him duplicate bills he paid the entire amount due by him. Thereafter, the Opposite party without any specific instructions from him started sending monthly statement by E-mail only which is against the terms and conditions as enumerated in item no.6.1 of the terms and conditions. Due to the delayed receipt of the statement of account or bills he had to pay the bill amount with few days delay, which was inevitable and unintentional, but the Opposite party went on charging other charges and interest which is improper. On 28.02.2008 the Opposite party sent him a legal notice for which he has sent reply on 13.03.2008 with a cheque for Rs.4,501.44 under protest as claimed by the Opposite party and as demanded in the legal notice. In addition to that through another bill through E-mail he received on 02.04.2008 a claim for Rs.385.90 by this the Opposite party was made by not following the rules and conditions strictly, has harassed him and thereby caused mental agony, as such has prayed for a direction to the Opposite party for refund of Rs.4,501.44 paid under protest with interest at 12% p.a., award Rs.15,000/- towards mental agony and to direct the Opposite party to remit a sum of Rs.75,000/- to the Consumer Welfare Fund.<br /> 2. After service of notice on Opposite party an Advocate by name H.S.Kumar filed a memo on 30.05.2008 undertaking to file power and version to the Opposite party and the complaint was adjourned to 04.06.2008 for power and version. On that day, the learned counsel appeared and submitted that he has not received any instructions from the Opposite party and therefore he is not in a position to defend them, as such the Opposite party is taken was absent and complaint was posted for affidavit evidence of the complainant. Thereafter, after receiving the complainant’s affidavit, hearing the complainant, the complaint was posted for orders.<br /> 3. The complainant in support of his grievance aired in the complaint has filed his affidavit evidence reiterating what he has stated in the complaint. Further in support of his complaint and affidavit has produced terms and conditions of S.B.I. card maintained by Opposite party and invited our attention to condition no.6.1 of the terms and conditions and also legal notice that the Opposite party got issued to him dated 28.02.2008 and reply given by him on 13.03.2008.<br /> 4. The documents and the contentions of the complainant prove that the complainant has been issued a credit card by the Opposite party and he was using that card and was paying the bills without any default. Condition no.6.1 of the terms of conditions issued by the Opposite party for the card holders show that the monthly statement of accounts shall be sent to the card holder by mail, unless the card holders specifically opts for such statement to be sent by E-mail. The complainant in the complaint and also in his affidavit evidence categorically stated as long as he was receiving the bills from the Opposite party for the purchases he made he was regularly paying the bills. But, he did not receive the bills for the month of July and August 2006 despite his effort and therefore contacted and obtained duplicate bills from the Opposite party and paid the bill amount and it was inevitable there was few days delay in payment of those bills. But, the Opposite party without considering its own default and violation of the terms and conditions of not sending the bills properly has imposed other charges and the interest. The complainant has further stated that after July and August 2006 the Opposite party never send the bills, but started sending bills through E-mail contravening the terms and conditions and therefore he was not even made known of that method adopted by Opposite party. However, after ascertaining whatever amount was due by him to the Opposite party by approaching the Opposite party he has paid the amount due under the bill and stated that he was not due any amount towards the purchases he made.<br /> 5. The legal notice that the Opposite party got issued to the complainant on 28.02.2008 discloses that the complainant had paid all the bill amounts due by him, but alleged to have avoided paying of various charges and fee that the Opposite party has imposed. The Opposite party in this legal notice claimed a sum of Rs.4,501.44 as various other charges payable by the complainant. The complainant has sent reply to this legal notice on 13.03.208 with a serious protest of the allegations made in the legal notice and specifically brought to the notice of the Opposite party in they not sending bills of July and August 2006 and they sending the bill through E-mail as against the terms and conditions and brought to the notice of the Opposite party that he is not liable to pay any amount due under the bills and whatever that Opposite party has charged as other charges amounting to Rs.4,501.44 is untenable, unjust and improper even informed the Opposite party of sending the cheque for Rs.4,501.44 towards alleged other charges claimed by the Opposite party under protest. The Opposite party who received this reply, thereafter has not responded to the complainant in their adopting method of sending bills through E-mail in the absence of specific instructions or consent given by the complainant and regarding the grievance of the complainant that amount of Rs.4,501.44 charged as other charges is improper and unsustainable. It is on consideration of the grievance of the complainant and materials placed before us, it is manifest that the Opposite party is bound to send the bill through mail demanding the payments and it has only an option of sending through E-mail when specifically agreed for. Therefore it is apparent that there has been lapses on the part of the Opposite party in not following the rules and conditions and charging the complainant for various charges amounting to Rs.4,501.44 which is nothing but the Opposite party taking advantage of their own fault. The reply sent by the complainant to the legal notice of the Opposite party should have opened their eyes to the conditions and rules of credit card and should have reversed the various charges they have imposed. But, despite the receipt of the reply from the complainant have exhibited silence and got encashed the cheque given by the complainant under protest, which speaks volumes against the deficiency in service of Opposite party. The Opposite party besides not responding to the customers grievances when they approach them have also failed to appear before this Forum either to set right their lapses or to defend the complainant. This case can be taken as an instance to demonstrate how the card holders or the customers of the Opposite party are being harassed for their no fault. This deficiency in service cannot be viewed only against this complainant and inference can be drawn as how the card holders or customers are subjected to this sort of harassment by charging for unlawful claim many of whom may not be capable of approaching the Forums for getting their grievance redressed. As such, we find this is a just case for awarding damages to the complainant and also direct the Opposite party to pay certain amount to the Legal Aid Account of this forum as a caution to the Opposite party to refrasin itself from adopting such method in dealing with card holders. With this we hold that the complaint deserves to be allowed and pass the following order:-<br /> ORDER<br /> <br /> 1. The Complaint is allowed.<br /> 2. The Opposite party is held to have caused deficiency in its service and thereby the charging Rs.4,501.44 is held as illegal and direct it to refund that amount to the complainant with interest at 12% p.a. from 1st April 2008 till the date of payment and it shall be paid within 40 days from the date of this order.<br /> 3. The Opposite party is also directed to pay a sum of Rs.2,000/- towards mental agony to the complainant with a cost of Rs.500/-.<br /> 4. The Opposite party shall also remit a sum of Rs.10,000/- to the Legal Aid Account of this Forum.<br /> 5. The Opposite party is directed to pay aforesaid amounts at serial no.2 and 3 within 40 days from the date of this order, failing which it shall pay interest at 12% p.a. from the date of this order till the date of payment.<br /> 6. Give a copy of this order to each party according to Rules.<br />