Complainant Surinder Kumar through the present complaint filed under Section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 (for short, ‘the Act’) has prayed that the opposite party be directed to make the payment of cheque bearing No.148965 dated 15.8.2014 amounting to Rs.1,30,000/- belonging to State Bank of India alongwith interest @ 18% per annum from the date of its depositing till its realization. He has also claimed Rs.10,000/- as compensation for illegal harassment.
- The case of the complainant in brief is that he was operating his Saving Account bearing No.0321000009814 with the opposite party Bank and as such he is consumer of the opposite party. It was pleaded that complainant deposited a cheque bearing No.148965 dated 15.8.2014 amounting to Rs.1,30,000/- belonging to State Bank of India on 5.9.2014. It was further pleaded that opposite party neither encashed the amount of the cheque nor returned the same to the complainant and harassing him by calling his visits again and again in their Bank and he was facing hardship as he was in a great need of money for his urgent needs. It was also pleaded that complainant requested the opposite party many times either to encash the amount of the cheque or to return the same but they linger on the matter on one pretext or the other by alleging that above said cheque has been misplaced somewhere in the Bank. It was next pleaded that opposite party is responsible for tracing the cheque and to credit the same in the above said saving account of the complainant and as such there is deficiency in service on the part of the opposite party, hence this complaint.
3. Upon notice, the opposite party appeared through their counsel and filed the written reply by taking the preliminary objections that complaint is not maintainable in the present form, that no cause of action has accrued to the complainant against the opposite party for filing the present complaint and complainant has filed the false complaint by concocting a false story and dragged the opposite party in a false litigation and as such complainant is liable to be burdened with special costs. On merits, It was stated that complainant presented a cheque of Rs.1,30,000/- bearing cheque No.148965 in opposite party branch on 7.9.2014 which was further forwarded to Punjab and Sind Bank branch Cinema Road Batala for clearing on 8.9.2014. It was further stated that the above said cheque was drawn by S.Harpreet Singh of SBI Amritsar Road Batala whose account No. was 31167516550. The said cheque was returned by SBI Branch due to insufficient funds and the same was got lost during transit and FIR to this effect was lodged on 17.11.2014 bearing DDR No.307 and Unique ID No.680772 at Sanjh Kendra, P.S. City Batala. It was also pleaded that complainant was fully aware about the above mentioned facts and has filed the false complaint by concealing these facts. All other averments made in the complaint have been denied and lastly the complaint has prayed to be dismissed.
- Complainant tendered into evidence his own affidavit Ex.C1 along with documents Ex.C2 and Ex.C3 and closed the evidence.
- Sh.Sandeep Puri Officer of opposite party has tendered into evidence his own affidavit Ex.OP-2/A and copy of DDR Ex.OP-2/B and closed the evidence.
6. We have duly considered the pleadings of both the parties; heard the arguments advanced by their counsels and have also appreciated the evidence produced on record with the valuable assistance of the learned counsels for the purpose of adjudication of the present complaint.
7. We have carefully examined the available evidence on the record file so as to interpret the meaning and purpose of each document and also the scope of adverse inference for some documents ignored to be produced by the litigants. We observe that the prime dispute pertains to the non-collection of the proceeds and also non-return of the cheque by the OP Bank to the complainant deposited (by him) for collection. The OP Bank has stated that the cheque in question was dishonored by the drawee bank (SBI, Batala) and thus returned to its Batala Branch where it was lost and subsequently DDR was also lodged with the Police. It is observed that the OP bank has failed to realize the importance of the ‘return’ of the dishonored cheque to its payee for the purposes of recovery of its ‘proceeds’ (including that by way of filing of complaint U/s 138 of the NI Act’ 1881). The OP bank could have at least issued the ‘lost cheque’ certificate to the complainant in its sincerest endeavor to assist him to recover its proceeds. But, the OP Bank has somehow failed to produce any cogent evidence of any such ‘effort’ during the course of the present proceedings and that hold them liable to an adverse ‘award’ under the Act.
8. In the light of the all above, we partly allow the present complaint and thus ORDER the OP Bank to (sincerely) assist the complainant by way of issuance of a suitable certificate; getting ‘duplicate’ of the ‘cheque return memo’ from the drawee bank; and/or any other assistance etc.; besides to pay him Rs.5,000/- as cost and compensation for the harassment caused within 30 days of the receipt of the copy of these orders otherwise the awarded amount shall carry interest @ 9% PA from the date of the orders till actual payment.
9. Copy of the order be communicated to the parties free of charges. After compliance, file be consigned to record.
(Naveen Puri)
President.
ANNOUNCED: (Jagdeep Kaur)
SEPT. 18, 2015 Member.
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