BEFORE THE DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES
REDRESSAL COMMISSION, JALANDHAR.
Complaint No.234 of 2021
Date of Instt. 30.06.2021
Date of Decision: 05.07.2023
Kamaljit Singh S/o Dharam Singh, H. No.70, Punjab Avenue, Ladhewali, Jalandhar-144007.
..........Complainant
Versus
1. OLS Whiz Pvt. Ltd. located at SCO No.3, Third Floor, Near Goal Market, Jalandhar, through Aditya Sethi Management Member.
2. Ranjit Singh S/o Gurmukh Singh, Managing Director-1, M. No.9814572176, H. No.23A, Shiv Vihar, Jalandhar.
3. Aditya Sethi, Management Member, OLS Pvt. Ltd. H. No.467/C, Guru Nanak Pura West, Jalandhar.
4. Kanchan Arora w/o Sachin Kumar Arora, H. No.71, Gali No.6, Guru Nanakpura, West, Jalandhar-1, Jalandhar 144001.
5. Sachin Kumar Arora S/o H……., H. No.71, Gali No.6, Guru Nanak Pura West, Jalandhar,144007.
….….. Opposite Parties
Complaint Under the Consumer Protection Act.
Before: Dr. Harveen Bhardwaj (President)
Smt. Jyotsna (Member)
Sh. Jaswant Singh Dhillon (Member)
Present: Brij. J. S. Jaswal, Adv. Counsel for the Complainant.
None for OPs No.1 to 3.
OPs No.4 & 5 exparte.
Order
Dr. Harveen Bhardwaj (President)
1. The instant complaint has been filed by the complainant, wherein it is alleged that OPs have extended financial services in the form of "Gold Coin Marka MMTC-999.9 Kitty Scheme" to the complainant. The registered office of OP-1, OLS WHIZ PVT. LTD. is at SCO No.3, Third Floor, Near Goal Market, Jalandhar. Aditya Sethi is the management member of OP-1, and residing at H.No.467/C Guru Nanakpura, Jalandhar. The OP-2 as Managing Director OP-3 as Management Member managed/administrated the work of OP-1 and they jointly/individually did the business of "Gold/Kitty". The OP-2 and OP-3 was working under the name and style of OLS WHIZZ PVT. LTD. and they were also running a gold kitty business (Gold Coin Marka MMTC-999.9 Kitty Scheme" under the name and style of OLS Whizz Pvt Ltd. The Kanchan Arora (POP-1) wife of Sachin Kumar Arora (POP-2) is residing at H. No.71, Gali No 6, Guru Nanakpura. Sachin Kumar Arora (POP-2) is serving in a Bank and POP-1 is by profession a homemaker. Kanchan Arora (POP-1) and Aditya Sethi OP-3 live in the same area and are very well known to each other and are having social relation with each other. On June 2016 Aditya Sethi OP-3, along with his wife came to the house of Arora's, for social visit and introduced to them a company namely OLS WHIZZ PVT. LTD having office at PPR Market near Goal Market, Jalandhar and told them that he is the management member of OP-1. The Aditya Sethi OP-3 informed Sachin Kumar Arora and Kanchan Arora. POP-1 that OP-1 OLS Whizz Pvt. Ltd. is running "Kitty Scheme", in the said scheme the consumer/investor should pay 11 installments each of Rs.1000 and the 12th installment shall be contributed by the OP-1 and that after the payment of 12th Installment, OP-1 will give a LED worth Rs.12000/- to the Consumer/Investor. The mode of payment of installments was to be cash/bank transfer. On the personal assurance/guarantee of OP-3 Aditya Sethi, Kanchan Arora POP-1 agreed to invest in the OP-1 "Kitty Scheme", Kanchan Arora POP-1 paid 11 installments, each of Rs.1000/- to the OPs in cash and 12th installment was paid by OP-1/ OP-3 and after 12th installment payment OP-1/OP-3 gave Kanchan Arora POP-1 product 24 inch LED. By this way OP-1/ OP- 3 gained the trust of Kanchan Arora POP-1. Aditya Sethi OP-3 again visited Arora's (Sachin Arora & Kanchan Arora POP-1) house and told them that Opposite Parties have launched a new Kitty Scheme namely "Gold Coin Marka MMTC-999.9 Kitty Scheme" Aditya Sethi OP-3 further told them that under this scheme, Consumer/Investor will pay 11 installments, each installment of Rs.2000/Rs 3000/Rs.5000 and 12th installment will be contributed by the OPs. And on payment of 12th installment, the Consumer/Investor will be entitlement to receive "Gold Coin Marka MMTC- 999.9 worth Rs.24000/- Rs.36000/- Rs.60000/-, the weight of Gold Coin Marka MMTC-999.9" will be fixed on the basis of average rate of market value of last 12 months of gold rate. The Consumer/Investor will pay the payment of Installments to the opposite parties by cash/bank transfer. Aditya Sethi OP-3 allured Kanchan Arora POP-1 to invest in the said scheme and also persuaded her to fix a meeting with some of her friends. On the assurance and good faith of OP-3, Kanchan Arora POP-1, with the assistance of her husband Sachin Arora arranged a meeting at her house. In this meeting Mr. Sachin Arora, Kanchan Arora POP-1, Chander Shekhar, and complainant Kamaljit Singh and others were present. The Aditya Sethi OP-3 explained/introduced the same scheme namely "Gold Coin Marka MMTC Kity Scheme" Aditya Sethi OP-3 allured all the persons on the basis of personal guarantee to invest in the said scheme. And invited all present in the meeting, to have a meeting with Ranjit Singh MD. The meeting was held at office of OP-1, where at OPs claimed that all the investors had already earned double the amount of investment. They showed legal documents relating to OLS Whizz Pvt. Ltd. such as pan card, certificate of incorporation. Booklet ‘LIVING LIFE LIKE IT'S GOLDEN’ and a booklet of ISO Certificate. The Aditya Sethi OP-3 allured all those present and Kamaljit Singh CP to invest in the said scheme. The OPs told Kamaljit Singh CP that there will be a lucky draw every month in which the winner will be given Rs.50000/-, On Kanchan Arora (POP-1) query "source of OP-1 income to fund offered prizes/payment of 12 installment: Opposite parties response was that (i) OP-1 purchased gold in bulk from the market on huge discounts where as OP-1 will give gold coins to the investor/consumer at the market price. (ii) AND apart from this, OP-1 is earning high amount of interest from investments in the bank amount. (iii) The profits earned on discounted price of Gold Coins plus the interest earned on investments is more than enough to pay the 12th installment & to pay draw money. OP-3 Aditya Sethi gave a Presentation regarding ‘Gold Kitty Schema’, in the conference room in the presence of OP-2, on the OP-1 operations. The OPs, by miss-representing, allured complainant Kamaljit Singh and Kanchan Arora POP-1 and Chander Shekher to invest with OP-1. Complainant Kamaljit Singh made Payments in installment against 11 ID's amounting to Rs.2,26,000/- to Sachin Arora who in-turn made the payments on behalf of complainant Kamaljit Singh to the OP-1/OP-3 through Bank Transfer/cash payment in person to Aditya Sethi OP-3. The OPs issued no physical receipt for the money received from the complainant, but acknowledged the receipt of money through computer generated whatsapp messages. The OPs maintained all the records/accounts on computer system. The details of the payments made by complaint Kamaljit Singh through Sachin Kumar Arora (POP-2) to OP-1 OLS WHIZZ PVT. LTD./OP-5 Aditiya Sethi. The Complainant Kamaljit Singh visited OPs Office in March 2019 and asked for maturity value (Gold Coins Marka MMTC-999.9 or the Money) of Kitties that matured during Feb 2020, but Aditiya Sethi OP-3 requested the complainant to wait for a few days on the plea that there has been some delay in receipt of their consignment from MMTC Maharashtra. The Aditya Sethi assured the complainant that the money invested in the Kitty Scheme is in safe hands & that the complainant will be paid "Gold Coin Marka MMTC-999.9" in kind or in cash. In April 2020 Kanchan Arora POP, along with complainant Kamaljit Singh visited OP-3 Aditiya Sethi at his house & requested for delivery of Gold Coins Marka MMTC-999.9 or Cash, Aditya Sethi OP-3 taking refuge of carona virus pandemic requested Kanchan Arora POP-1& Complainant Kamaljit Singh to wait for some time. On 15.07.2020, Sachin Arora Kanchan Arora POP-1, Chander Shekher and Complainant Kamaljit Singh learnt via online E-web portal regarding fraud committed by OPs in Jallandhar with the innocent general people and that the management has run away with their family members and they have carried all the money which was lying in the OP-1 bank account. The OPs/Aditiya Sethi OP-3 management member in connivance with each other has committed fraud with the complainant in order to obtain wrongful gain to themselves and to cause wrongful loss to the complainants. A complaint has been lodged with commissioner of police vide complaint no.1336303433 dated 20/03/2021 and accordingly, necessity arose to file the present complaint with the prayer that the complaint of the complainant may be accepted and OP No.5 be directed to pay Rs.2,84,975/- Principle Rs.2,40,000/- + interest Rs.44975/- @ 18% per annum from 01/04/2019 to 15/03/2021 and Rs.1,00,000/- on account of deficiency in service and unfair trade practices on the part of OP's/Aditiya Sethi OP-3 and Rs.1,00,000/- towards stress, mental sufferings and agony and Rs.22000/- towards litigation expenses, total amounting to Rs.5,06,975/- along with future interest @ 18% per annum.
2. Notice of the complaint was given to the OP, who filed reply and contested the complaint by taking preliminary objections that the present complaint is not maintainable as the complainant does not fit into the definition of consumer and hence he cannot file any petition under Consumer Protection Act. It is further averred that the complainant have got no direct relation with the company/opposite parties as he never deposited or had been a member of the said company at any point of time. No gold kitty was ever initiated by the opposite parties. Moreover, it was a direct marketing company dealing in consumer goods. The complainant did not deposit the amount as alleged by him with the OPs at any point of time. It is further averred that the complainant has not deposited any amount as alleged by him with the answering respondents at any point of time. All the documents are forged and fabricated. The present complaint has been filed just to harass the OPs. The complaint is not maintainable in the present form as the settled law is that when there are large numbers of complainants, it would be necessary that a complaint should be filled on behalf of all the persons having a community of interest but a complaint on behalf of only some of them is not maintainable. It is further averred that admittedly the present complaint has been filed by the complainant that a fraud has been committed by the OPs. So to establish fraud or cheating it would require a lot of evidence and proper investigation. Moreover, the offence must stand prove as per law. It has been held by the National Commission that the Consumer Forum cannot arrogate to itself the powers of the CBI Court as the allegations regarding fraud and cheating cannot be proved through mere affidavits or interrogatories. Moreover, the National Commission has held that to adjudicate all the criminal acts, the consumer forum has no jurisdiction to deal with them. On merits, it is admitted that the complainant is a consumer, but the other allegations as made in the complaint are categorically denied and lastly submitted that the complaint of the complainant is without merits, the same may be dismissed.
3. Rejoinder to the written statement filed by the complainant, whereby reasserted the entire facts as narrated in the complaint and denied the allegations raised in the written statement.
4. In order to prove their respective versions, both the parties have produced on the file their respective evidence.
5. We have heard the learned counsel for the complainant only as none has appeared on behalf of the OPs No.1 to 3 and OPs No.4 and 5 already exparte and have also gone through the case file very minutely.
6. The complainant has alleged that he has made payment of Rs.2,26,000/- against 11 IDs. He has produced on record a computer generated installment sheet Ex.C-1, but this receipt seems to be self made receipt as no name of the company has been mentioned on it nor any stamp of OP is on it nor there is any date on it nor signature of anybody is there to show that the installment was deposited with the OP by the complainant. No bank account statement has been filed to show the transaction or transfer of amount in the account of OPs has been filed by the complainant with regard to cash payment, if any, no receipt has been produced by the complainant. So, the complainant has failed to prove that there is any deficiency in service and unfair trade practice on the part of the OPs. More so, the complainant has alleged commission of fraud in this case and where there are allegations of fraud, no complaint is not maintainable before Consumer Commission as per provision of Consumer Protection Act. In such, circumstances, the complaint of the complainant is without merits and the same is dismissed with no order of cost. Parties will bear their own cost. This complaint could not be decided within stipulated time frame due to rush of work.
7. Copies of the order be supplied to the parties free of cost, as per Rules. File be indexed and consigned to the record room.
Dated Jaswant Singh Dhillon Jyotsna Dr. Harveen Bhardwaj
05.07.2023 Member Member President
