Order No. -14 Dt. 08/08/2014
Today is fixed for final order of this case.
This is an application u/s 12 of the Consumer Protection Act 1986.
Complainant’s case in short is that he holds SB A/C bearing no.6074001300002377 with Punjab National Bank, Jalpaiguri Branch, Jalpaiguri. On 25/04/13 the complainant went to Mal Bazaar and there he tried to withdraw money from his said account from the ATM Counter of SBI by using his ATM card but he could not succeed and the ATM device displayed, “SORRY NOT AVAILABLE YOUR PROCESSING” on the screen. On 27/04/13 the complainant withdrew Rs.15,000/- and odd by cheque from his salary A/C from PNB Kadamtala Branch, Jalpaiguri and updated his account book. After going through the statement of account he found that Rs.6054/- and Rs.17, 849/- i.e. Rs.23903/- in total were debited from his PNB A/C on 26/04/13 by two transactions. Then he informed entire incident to PNB headquarter and one Kishore Khegore(CSA), PNB on the self same date and his complaint was registered as Complaint no.59072544 dt. 27/04/13. On 28/04/13 the complainant lodged a written complaint with Mal Bazar P.S. Which was registered as Mal P.S.Case no. 119/13 dt.28/04/13. On 14/06/13 he once again lodged a written complaint with the Officer-in-charge, Mal P.S. stating that he came to learn from PNB, Jalpaiguri Branch that his money amounting to Rs. 23,903/-which was debited from his account was actually used by/from one E.Bay. Com online website for some merchant transaction on 26/04/13. The complainant has no knowledge about these transactions. On the basis of his written complaint Mal P.S. Case No.297/13 dt.15/06/13 u/s 66C/ 66D of I.T.Act 2000 readwith Sec.379 I.P.C. was registered. On 08/05/13 the complainant lodged complaint with the A.D., C.A.& F.B.P., Jalpaiguri against O.P.No.1 and & 2 but no fruitful result came out. The complainant wrote letters to O.P.1 & 2 several times requesting them to refund his money amounting to Rs.23,903 which was illegally and fraudulently withdrawn from his A/C on 26/04/13but to no effect. Hence this case.
The O.P. Punjab National Bank Has contested this case by filing Written Version denying and disputing the claims and contentions of the complainant with prayer for dismissal of the case.
The specific stand of the O.Ps.(Punjab National Bank) is that the ATM-cum-Debit Card no. was issued in favour of the A/C Holder Sri Sudeb Kumar Sarkar(complainant) and a high security password was chosen and set up by the complainant for his convenience without knowledge of anybody, even the bank. Therefore nobody would be able to know the said high security password unless & until it was disclosed at the risk of the complainant to any other person for which the bank is not responsible in any manner or way. So it is clear that the complainant at his own risk disclosed his password to another person in consequence of which his money was taken away through net banking online transactions to which bank had no part and role.
POINTS FOR CONSIDERATION
1. Is the case maintainable?
- Is the complainant a consumer as per provision of Consumer Protection Act.1986?
- Is O.P. guilty for Unfair Trade Practice as alleged?
- Is the complainant entitled to get the reliefs as prayed for?
DECISION WITH REASONS
All four points are taken up together for consideration and decision. Seen and perused the pleadings of the parties and the documents filed by the parties.
Now after due consideration of the arguments advanced by the Ld.Lawyers of both sides and the materials on record we find that admittedly, the complainant holds SB A/C no. 6074001300002377 with Punjab National Bank, Jalpaiguri Branch and he is continuing the said Savings Bank A/C till date. Furthermore, maintainability of the case though challenged by the O.Ps. in their W/V but this point was not pressed by the side of the O.P. at the time of hearing of the case. Now after going through the petition of complaint we find nothing adverse against the maintainability of the case.
Therefore we find and hold that the case is maintainable and the complainant is a consumer as per provision of C.P.Act 1986.
Admittedly ATM-cum-Debit Card was issued by the bank in favour of the complainant to facilitate him to withdraw money from his A/C and for this the complainant had chosen a high security password to use his ATM-cum-Debit Card and that high security password was top confidential. In the decision reported in II(2011)CPJ 106 (NC),SBI versus K.K.Bhalla Case Hon’ble National Commission has observed that, “in view of elaborate procedure evolved by the petitioner/Bank to ensure that without the ATM Card and knowledge of the PIN number, it is not possible for money to be withdrawn by an unauthorized person from an ATM-cum-Debit Card............................................”. In view of the above observation of the Hon’ble National Commission and the fact that the high security PIN no. which was chosen and selected by the complainant himself to withdraw money by using his ATM-cum-Debit Card and which should be kept preserved by the complainant himself into his memory, it is hard to believe that some outsider has made the transaction on 26/04/13 by using the high security PIN no. of the complainant and withdrew Rs.23903/- from the account of the complainant without knowledge of the complainant. From the materials on record we find that the complainant had reported the matter to the Bank and lodged complaint with Mal P.S. and on the basis of his written complaint Mal P.S. 297/13 dt.15/06/13 u/s 66C/ 66D of the I.T.Act 2000 readwith Sec.379 I.P.C. was started. It is coming out from para 9 of the petition of complaint that the Branch Manager, Punjab National Bank made an enquiry after receiving the complaint from the complainant and in the enquiry the Punjab National Bank came to learn that the complainant’s money amounting to Rs.23,903 which was debited from his A/C was actually used by/from one E.Bay.Com online website from some merchant transaction of 26/04/13. Therefore it is clear that the bank after receiving the complaint regarding the incident took initiative to know by whom the transaction dt.26/04/13 was made and on enquiry the bank came to learn that transaction dt. 26/04/13 was made by using E.Bay.Com online website and the bank also intimated that fact to the complainant. Admittedly the complainant lodged a written complaint with Mal P.S. Which was registered as Mal P.S. Case No.297/13 dt.15/06/13 u/s 66C/ 66D of I.T.Act readwith Sec. 379 I.P.C. Documents filed by the side of the O.P. go to that several attempts were made by the side of the O.P. bank to know the name of the person responsible for transaction dt.26/04/13 by using E.Bay.Com online website but they didn’t get reply from E.Bay.Com online website. So it is the duty of police to investigate the case and to identify the person behind the screen. Therefore it is clear that there was no negligence on the part of the O.P. bank to search out the person behind the incident.
Admittedly Punjab National Bank is a Government Nationalized Bank and as such question of doing Unfair Trade Practice by the Bank as alleged by the complainant doesn’t and cannot arise. That apart the allegation as made by the complainant against the O.P.Bank doesn’t come within the purview of Unfair Trade Practice as per provision of Sec.2(r) of the C.P.Act.1986.
The complainant couldn’t rebutt the presumption that either he or his very close person made online transactions with E.Bay.Com website on 26/04/13 by using his high security PIN no.
In this view of the matter we have no hesitation to hold that the complainant has hopelessly failed to prove the allegation made against O.Ps. and accordingly the complainant is not entitled to get any relief.
All points are disposed of.
In the result the case fails.
Hence, it is
O R D E R E D
that the case i.e. application/ u/s 12 of the C.P.Act stands dismissed on contest but in the circumstances we make no order as to cost.
Let copy of this final order be supplied to the parties free of cost forthwith in terms of Sec.5(10) of West Bengal Consumer Protection Rules 1987.
