Delhi

East Delhi

CC/934/2014

M KASHYAPA - Complainant(s)

Versus

P.B.S SINDBANT - Opp.Party(s)

06 Jul 2015

ORDER

DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM (EAST)

GOVT. OF NCT OF DELHI

CONVENIENT SHOPPING CENTRE, SAINI ENCLAVE: DELHI-92

 

CC No.934/ 2014 :

 

In the matter of:

Sh. M. Kashyapa

S/o. Late Sh. B.R. Kashyap

R/o. B -20, AnandVihar,

Delhi – 110 092

Complainant

                          Vs

1. Punjab & Sind Bank

    ‘A’ Block, CSC Market,

     AnandVihar, Delhi – 110 092

 

2. Syndicate Bank

    Vikas Marg Branch,

     AnandVihar, Delhi – 110 092

Respondents

s

Date of Admission:07/11/2014

                                                                                    Date of Order        : 05/08/2015

 

ORDER

Poonam Malhotra, Member :

The brief conspectus of facts of the present complaint are that the complainant is a super senior citizen aged about 88 years.  Smt. BimlaKashyapa, wife of the complainant, retired from the Haryana Government service as Editor – cum – Research Officer on 30/11/1987 and after retirement she was drawing a basic pension of Rs.11,396/- w.e.f. 01/01/2006 plus admissible allowances till her death on 07/03/2011.  After her death, her family pension was fixed at Rs.6,838/- plus admissible allowances w.e.f. 08/03/2011.  It is submitted by the complainant that due to age problem he found it difficult to draw his monthly family pension from Syndicate Bank, AnandVihar, Delhi so he got his Pension Account transferred to Punjab & Sind Bank, AnandVihar, Delhi which was near to his residence.  It is alleged that the Haryana Government had issued Revised Pension Rules, 2009 for pension/family pension cases prior to the year 2006 and according to the said rules she was entitled to enhanced basic pension of Rs.13,903/- w.e.f. 01/01/2009 to 07/03/2011.  Her family pension was also entitled for enhancement to Rs.7,593/- w.e.f.08/03/2011.  Requests for revision of the pension/family pension to Respondent No.Iwere of no consequence.  It is in these circumstances that the complainant has prayed for directions to the respondents:

1. to revise the pension of Smt. BimlaKashyapa from Rs.11,396/- to Rs.13,903/- w.e.f. 01/01/2009 to 07/03/2011 and pay arrears;
2. to revise herfamilypension from Rs.6,838/- to Rs.7,593/- w.e.f. 08/03/2011 and pay arrears;
3. compensation for harassment, mental agony meted out by him;
4. the cost of this litigation; &,
5. to pay penal interest on arrears for the delay to implement the Pension Revision Rules of 2009.

The complainant has moved an application for the impleadment of Syndicate Bank as a necessary party in the present complaint as for the payment of arrears of pension and family pension necessary month-wise detailed information about the pension/family pension disbursed to Smt. BimlaKashyapa from 01/01/2009 to 31/07/2014 was to be provided by the Syndicate Bank, Vikas Marg Branch, AnandVihar, Delhi to the Punjab & Sind Bank, AnandVihar, Delhi.  The application was allowed and Syndicate Bank, Vikas Marg Branch, AnandVihar, Delhi was impleaded as Respondent No.II in the present complaint. 

 

On 12/05/2015 Sh. Paramjeet Singh, anofficerof Respondent No.II dealing with pension, appeared and admitted the fact of that the wife of the complainant and the complainant had been allowed the benefit of revision of pension and family pension respectively but the benefit by way of arrears is yet to be passed on to the complainant.  On 22/05/2015 the Bank Manager of the said Branch of Syndicate Bank appeared before this Forum and informed us that the arrears upto December, 2014 had been paid to the complainant and the arrears upto the month of May, 2015 shall be paid alongwith the family pension for the month of May, 2015.  On 06/07/2015 when the matter was fixed for the hearing of arguments it was submitted by the complainant that arrears upto the Month of May, 2015 have also been paid and now his payment of Family Pension has been streamlined in accordance with the prevailing Pension/Family Pension Rules.  Though his primary grievance has been redressed and the complaint stands disposed of to that extent but the only grievance that remains to be decided is with regard to the harassment he had suffered at the hands of the respondents, the cost of the present litigation that was thrust upon him and the penal interest on the arrears paid to him.

 

            Heard and perused the record.

From the perusal of the record, it has come to light that after the transfer of the Family Pension Account from the Syndicate Bank,Vikas Marg Branch, AnandVihar, Delhi to the Punjab & Sind Bank, AnandVihar, Delhi the latter had called for the month-wise detailed information about the pension/family pension disbursed to Smt. BimlaKashyapa from 01/01/2009 to 31/07/2014 from the former for the payment of arrears of pension and family pension to the complainant vide their letter bearing No.92/2014 dated 29/01/2015 which has been referred to in the letter of Respondent No.II bearing Ref. No. VME/937/PEN/2015 dated 03/02/2015.  Through their said letter dated 03/02/2015 they had intimated the thePunjab & Sind Bank that the requisite information is not available with the concerned Vikas Marg Branch of Respondent No.II and they had forwarded the said request to their Link Office in R.K.Puram.  The Respondent No.IIhad not endeavoured to take speedy steps to provide the requisite information called for by the Punjab & Sind Bank so as to enable it to process the claim of the complainant for the payment of arrears to him. The Respondent No.II herein was under an obligation to procure the information expeditiously from its Link Office in R.K.Puram and to forward the same to the Respondent No.I without any delay to preclude harassment to the complainant who is a super senior citizen aged about 88 years at the time of filing of this complaint.  Infact, the Respondent No.II was under an obligation to have transferred all the information relating to the pension/ family pension account automatically at the time the said account was transferred from Respondent No.II to Respondent No.I and not to wait for a letter from the Respondent No.I for the supply of information relating to the said account.  Transfer of the said account and holding back the relevant information relating to the said account certainly falls within the four squares of the definition of “Deficiency in Service” as contained in the The Consumer Protection Act, 1986. 

Further, it is also evident from the letter bearing Ref. No. VME/937/PEN/2015 dated 03/02/2015 of Respondent No. II that despite transfer of the said account to Respondent No. I in July, 2014 the Respondent No.I had sought the month-wise detailed information about the pension/family pension disbursed to Smt. BimlaKashyapa/the complainant from 01/01/2009 to 31/07/2014 only on 29/01/2015 vide their letter bearing No.92/2014 dated 29/01/2015 i.e, after about six months since the account was transferred to it.  The Respondent No.I has not put up appearance despite being served with notice and the delay in the issuance of the letter is unexplained. As such the Respondent No.I is also deficient in providing services to the complainant. 

Taking the abovementioned facts and circumstances into consideration, there is not a scintilla of doubt that both the respondents were deficient in providing services to the complainant, a super senior citizen, and had made him run from pillar to post in utter disregard of his age when even the Government gives priority to the Super Senior Citizens in our country in varied forms. Delay in the implementation of the Pension Revision Rules of 2009 had deprived the wife of the complainant and the complainant of the benefits to which they were otherwise entitled to and he needs to be compensated for it.  Accordingly, we direct the Respondent No.I  and Respondent No.II to pay Rs.5,000/- and Rs.30,000/-respectively to the complainant and the said amounts shall include the compensation and the  cost of present litigation.  Further, it is evident from the record that both the banks held the arrear money of the complainant to their advantage and enjoyed the same without payment of any interest to the complainant.  Arrears of pension/family pension from 01/01/2009 to 31/12/2014 amounting to Rs.2,17,040/-  have been paid to the complainant and on 22/05/2015 it was admitted before this Forum by the Manager of the respondent bank that the arrears upto the month of May, 2015 shall be paid alongwith the pension of May, 2015.  In the absence of month-wise details of the payments made towards the arrears of the pension/family pension we arrive at an inference that the respondents shall pay in all Rs.60,000/- to the complainant towards interest on the arrears of pension/family pension paid to the complainant.  Out of the said amount of Rs.60,000/- Respondent No.II shall pay Rs.50,000/- to the complainant and Respondent No.I shall pay Rs.10,000/- to the complainant towards interest on the amount of arrears held by them.  Let the amount be paid by the respondents to the within 45 days from the date of this order failing which the complainant shall also be entitled to interest @ 9% p.a. on the entire amount payable by each of the respondents from the date of this order till it is finally paid.

The Bankers generally discourage the pensioners not to transfer their  Pension / Family Pension Account.The Ministry of Finance and the Reserve Bank of India should formulate Regulations with regard to the transfer of Pension/Family Pension Account within a specified time period  to the bank near to the residence of the pensioner and in case of failure of the bankers to do so the concerned bank responsible for the delay/failure shall compensate the pensioner.  This would ease the pensioners from the inconvenience of getting their pension from banks located far away from their residence and also from  harassment at the hands of the bankers as is evident from the case in hand.

Copy of the order to be sent to both the parties as per rules and to the Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Govt. of India and the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India.

 

   (Subhash Gupta)                                         (Poonam Malhotra)                          (N.A. Zaidi)

          Member                                                                       Member                                 President