Present (1) Nisha Nath Ojha,
District & Sessions Judge (Retd.) President
(2) Smt. Karishma Mandal,
Member
(3) Anil Kumar Singh
Member
Date of Order : 28.09.2018
Nisha Nath Ojha
- In the instant case the Complainant has sought for following reliefs against the Opposite party:-
- To direct the opposite parties to unfreez the pension account no. 0380000100169640 of the complainant.
- To direct the opposite parties to pay Rs. 1,50,000/- compensation for mental agony.
- To direct the opposite parties to pay Rs. 40,000/- as litigation costs.
- The facts of this case lies in a narrow compass which is as follows:-
The complainant has asserted that she has an account at the Punjab National Bank which was opened after proper verification by opposite party no. 1. She has further stated that she has no other source of income except receiving pension which was used by her in her medical treatment and remaining amount is utilized to meet her day to day needs of her as well as her family member.
She has further asserted that without serving any notice etc. her account has been freezed by opposite party Bank and thereafter on 24.01.2017 she met opposite party no. 3 i.e. Branch Manager, Punjab National Bank, Exhibition Road, Patna and submitted an application (annexure – 2) before him praying therein to unfreez her said account which was not done. She has stated that she has no other source of income hence she is suffering much due to freezing of her account in which the pension of her late husband was being credited and utilized by her.
On behalf of opposite parties written statement has been filed stating therein that present complaint petition is based neither on fact nor on law and as such it is fit to be dismissed.
It has been further stated by opposite parties that husband of the complainant namely Deep Narayan Singh was employee (Sergeant) of defense service i.e. Air Force and after retirement he was getting his pension through his account of Punjab National Bank. Deep Narayan Singh (husband) of the complainant died on 27.07.1988 and after death of her husband the complainant was getting family pension through her account bearing no. 0380000100169640 of Punjab National Bank, Exhibition Road, Patna from opposite party no. 3 after transferring her account from Barhara Branch to Bhojpur.
It is further stated by opposite party Bank that as per Government of India directive few arrear amount were to be paid to the complainant during financial year 2016-17 but due to wrong calculation by system a sum of Rs. 15,27,066/- was excess credited in to her pension account. Thereafter as per Reserve Bank of India circular contained in annexure – C, the opposite party no. 3 immediately informed the complainant when she visited the bank regarding excess payment of amount of Rs. 15,27,066/- but the complainant did not given her consent of recovery due to bad intention. The bank has also sent a letter asking her to provide repayment strategy containing vide annexure – D and E.
Heard both the counsel for the parties. At the time of hearing opposite party no. 3 was also present.
The learned counsel for the complainant has asserted that the complainant has received no notice and she has no hand in excess credit of amount of Rs. 15,27,066/- by the bank. She has stated that if her account is freezed she will die for want of money and her family member will also be in trouble.
It has been also submitted that whole pension amount cannot be freezed as have been done in this case.
On behalf of opposite parties the learned counsel has submitted that it is a pension matter and hence such complaint cannot be decided by the District Consumer Forum.
It has been further submitted that it is the public money which has been excessively credited in the account of complainant hence the bank has authority under its rule and circular to recover the excess amount paid to the complainant through process of the law.
We have carefully perused the entire complaint petition, written statement and other application filed by the respective parties.
From bare perusal of complaint petition as well as written statement it is crystal clear that neither the pensioner (since died) nor his wife who is complainant in this case had hand in excess payment of Rs. 15,27,066/-. Opposite parties have themselves stated that the excess payment has been done by the Bank due to wrong calculation of the system. It is Golden rule that entire pension amount cannot be withhold on the pertext of recovery of excess amount in which neither pensioner nor his wife has any hand or connivance. Hon’ble Apex Court as well as Hon’ble High Court in their various judgments have been pleased to hold that entire pension amount cannot be freezed. It is true that the bank has right to recover the excess amount but this cannot be done at the life of the pensioner whose only source is the pension amount. This is a very hard case in which the husband of the complainant who was original pensioner has died and his wife who is complainant in this case is suffering from the conduct of opposite party no. 3 as her whole account has been freezed.
In our opinion the aforesaid conduct of opposite parties has resulted in deficiency.
We therefore direct the opposite parties to defreeze the account of the complainant immediately and recover not more than one third of the payable pension amount per month.
With the aforementioned direction this complaint petition stands disposed off but without any cost.
- Member Member(F) President
