BEFORE THE DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM, AMRITSAR.

Consumer Complaint No. 193 of 2015

Date of Institution: 27.03.2015

Date of Decision: 18.01.2016

1. Sh.Nathu Mal Bhandari son of Sh.Ramakant Bhandari, aged about 77 years.
2. Smt.Sudesh Bhandari wife of Sh.Nathu Mal Bhandari, both residents of 1773, Tilak Gali, 12 Makan, Islamabad, Amritsar.  

Complainants

Versus

1. Punjab and Sind Bank, Branch Islamabad, Amritsar through its Branch Manager/ Person over all Incharge.
2. Punjab and Sind Bank, Zonal Office, Hall Bazaar, Amritsar through is Chief General Manager/ Person over all Incharge.   

Opposite Parties

Complaint under section 11 and 12 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986.

Present: For the Complainants: Sh.Neeraj Brahmi, Advocate

              For the Opposite Parties: Sh.R.K.Mahajan, Advocate

Quorum:

Sh.Bhupinder Singh, President

Ms.Kulwant Kaur Bajwa, Member

Mr.Anoop Sharma, Member  

Order dictated by:

Sh.Bhupinder Singh, President.

1. Present complaint has been filed by the complainants under the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act alleging therein that the complainants having their saving account with Opposite Party No.1 Bank vide account No. 01611000228751. Complainants have alleged that the Opposite Party No.1-Bank also issued a cheque book to the complainants and out of that cheque book, the complainant No.1 issued cheque bearing No.938401 dated 24.12.2014 amounting to Rs.26,412/- in favour of Life Insurance Corporation of India, in respect of the payment of premium of LIC Policy No. 470774757. At the time of issuance of the said cheque, the funds in the account of the complainants were sufficient and the complainant No.1 was confident that the same will be honoured on its presentation. When the impugned cheque bearing No. 938401 dated 24.12.2014 amounting to Rs.26,412/- was presented for collection by the Life Insurance Corporation of India, Amritsar, the same was returned unpaid vide cheque returning memo dated 29.12.2014 with the remarks that the impugned cheque has been rejected by Punjab & Sind Bank with the reason “Kindly contact Drawer/ Drawee Bank and please present again.”  It is worthwhile to mention that the cheque book was issued to the complainants by the Opposite Parties for making payment from the bank account and even otherwise at the relevant time, funds in the account of the complainants were sufficient to honour the impugned  cheque  and in this respect, the certificate dated 3.3.2015 was duly issued by Opposite Party No.1 which shows that the impugned cheque dated 24.12.2014 was dishonoured only on account of negligence and deficiency in service on the part of the Opposite Parties.   Alleging the same to be deficiency in service, complaint was filed seeking directions to the opposite parties to pay Rs.2 lacs as Compensation. Litigation expenses were also demanded.
2. On notice, Opposite Parties appeared and filed written version in which it was submitted that the complainants are having a Saving Bank Account with Opposite Party No.1, but in the said account, the complainants have not submitted their identity proof/ Adhaar Card as per the latest KYC guidelines and might have not fulfilled other formalities and as such, said cheque was returned by the RCC Branch of Opposite Party by giving remarks/ advisory that “Kindly contact Drawer/ Drawee Bank and please present again.”, but even then the complainants have not contacted or enquired the Opposite Parties in the matter alongwith returned cheque and never contacted to fulfill the said formalities and has not represented the said cheque after contacting and fulfilling the formalities with the bank, rather, after passing so much time, they have started moving false  applications and have filed the present false, frivolous and baseless complaint. As a matter of fact, the real facts are that a cheque book bearing No.406300 was issued in a current account No. 2117 in the name of M/s.Lali Di Hatti and a cheque book bearing cheque No. 406221 to 406240 in saving bank account No. 12239 to Sh.Deepak Bhandari. Thereafter, a cheque No. 406232 was issued by M/s.Lali Di Hatti in favour of one M/s.Anand Enterprises, but due to same cheque number of the saving bank account, the said cheque was inadvertently debited from the account No.  12239 of Deepak Bhandari, but thereafter, when the said bonafide mistake of the bank was informed by the complainants to the bank, the bank had immediately rectified its boanfide mistake and had returned the said amount of Rs.8000/- mistakenly debited from the account of said Deepak Kumar alongwith interest and in this regard a satisfaction letter dated 23.9.2013 was also given by the complainants to the bank officials and it has been specifically mentioned by the complainant No.1 that he had no grievance against the bank and as such, the said matter had been resolved. While denying and controverting other allegations, dismissal of complaint was prayed.
3. Complainants tendered into evidence the  affidavit of Nathu Ram Bhandari, complainant No.1 Ex.C1 alongwith documents Ex.C2 to Ex.C20 and closed the evidence on behalf of the complainants.
4. Opposite Parties tendered into evidence affidavit of Sh.Kiranpal Singh Ex.OP1,2/1 alongwith documents Ex.OP1,2/2 to Ex.OP1,2/ to Ex.OP1,2/8 and closed the evidence on behalf of the Opposite Parties.
5. We have carefully gone through the pleadings of the parties; arguments advanced by the ld.counsel for the parties and have appreciated the evidence produced on record by both the parties with the valuable assistance of the ld.counsel for both the parties.
6. From the record i.e. pleadings of the parties and the evidence produced on record by the parties, it is clear that the complainants having their joint saving account No. 01611000228751 with Opposite Party No.1 Bank. The complainant No.1 issued cheque bearing No.938401 dated 24.12.2014 (Ex.C2) amounting to Rs.26,412/- in favour of Life Insurance Corporation of India as payment of premium of LIC Policy No. 470774757. Complainant submitted that at the time of issuance of the said cheque, the funds in the account of the complainants were sufficient. However, when the said cheque was presented for collection by Life Insurance Corporation of India to their banker, the same was returned unpaid by Opposite Party   vide cheque returning memo dated 29.12.2014 Ex.C3 with the remarks that “Kindly contact Drawer/ Drawee Bank and please present again.”  Ld.counsel for the complainants submitted that said cheque was dishonoured by Opposite Party-Bank, only on account of negligence and deficiency in service on the part of the Opposite Parties which affected the reputation of the complainants and the complainants had to make the payment to Life Insurance Corporation of India as premium of policy bearing No. 470774757 alongwith cheque bouncing charges i.e. Rs.26,537/- instead of Rs.26,412/- actual amount of the premium. Ld.counsel for the complainant  submitted that all this amounts to deficiency of service on the part of the opposite parties.
7. Whereas the case of the Opposite Parties is that a cheque book bearing No.406300 was issued in a current account No. 2117 in the name of M/s.Lali Di Hatti and a cheque book bearing No. 406221 to 406240 in saving bank account No. 12239 to Sh.Deepak Bhandari. Thereafter, a cheque No. 406232 was issued by M/s.Lali Di Hatti in favour of one M/s.Anand Enterprises, but due to same cheque number of the saving bank account, the said cheque was inadvertently debited from the account No.  12239 of Deepak Bhandari, but said bonafide mistake was immediately rectified by Opposite Party-Bank. Opposite Parties  further submitted that the cheque in question Ex.C2 issued by the complainant No.1 was presented for collection by Life Insurance Corporation of India, Amritsar and the same was returned by Opposite Party Bank vide memo dated 29.12.2014 Ex.C3 with the remarks “Kindly contact Drawer/ Drawee Bank and please present again.” The funds in the account of the complainants at the relevant time were sufficient to honour the impugned cheque and in this regard, certificate dated 3.3.2015 Ex.C4 was duly issued by Opposite Party No.1. Opposite Party No.1 had to make the payment of premium of LIC policy with penalty to Life Insurance Corporation of India. They also denied that if the complainant No.1 had not paid the premium of Life Insurance Corporation of India with penalty to Life Insurance Corporation of India in that eventuality, the LIC policy would have been cancelled by Life Insurance Corporation of India. Opposite Parties  alleged that the complainants have not submitted         their identity proof/ Adhaar Card as per the latest KYC guidelines and might have not fulfilled other formalities and as such, said cheque was returned by the RCC Branch of Opposite Party-Bank by giving remarks/ advisory that “Kindly contact Drawer/ Drawee Bank and please present again.”, Thereafter the complainants have not contacted or enquired the Opposite Parties in this regard nor presented the said cheque after fulfilling the formalities  with the Opposite Party-Bank. Said cheque was in fact never returned by the Opposite Parties  on account of ‘insufficient funds’. Ld.counsel for the opposite parties submitted that there is no deficiency of service on the part of the Opposite Parties.
8. From the entire above discussion, we have come to the conclusion that the complainants have joint saving account No. 01611000228751 with Opposite Party No.1 Bank.  The Opposite Party No.1-Bank issued cheque book to the complainant and out of that cheque book the  complainant No.1 issued cheque bearing No.938401 dated 24.12.2014 (Ex.C2) amounting to Rs.26,412/- in favour of Life Insurance Corporation of India to make the payment of premium of LIC Policy No. 470774757. It is admitted case of the Opposite Parties  that complainants had sufficient funds to honour this cheque at the relevant time as per certificate issued by Opposite Party No.1-Bank itself Ex.C4 dated 3.3.2015. Life Insurance Corporation of India presented this cheque for collection, but the Opposite Party No.1-Bank returned the said cheuqe unpaid vide cheque  returning memo dated 29.12.2014 Ex.C3 with the remarks “Kindly contact Drawer/ Drawee Bank and please present again” thereby the complainant had to make the payment of premium of policy to Life Insurance Corporation of India, to the tune of Rs.26537/- i.e. premium amount of Rs.26412/- plus penalty for not making the payment of premium within the stipulated period. All this happened due to valid cheque returned by Opposite Party uncleared despite the fact that the complainants had sufficient funds to honour  this cheque at the relevant time, as is evident from the statement of account of the complainants Ex.C10. Opposite Party-Bank should not have returned the cheque unpaid. Had there been any dispute with the complainants, the Opposite Party should have first paid the amount  of cheque to Life Insurance Corporation of India and later on cleared any dispute with the complainants. The Opposite Party should not have avoided the payment  of premium of LIC of the complainant no.1 towards policy bearing No. 470774757. The Opposite Party has alleged that the cheque of the complainants might have returned as the complainants had not submitted their   identity proof/ Adhaar Card as per the latest KYC guidelines and might have not fulfilled other formalities. This plea of the Opposite Party is not tenable because complainants are having aforesaid  saving bank account being maintained by them regularly, with Opposite Party No.1-Bank. Opposite Party No.1-Bank has also admitted that there were sufficient funds to the credit of the complainants to honour this cheque at the relevant time as per certificate issued by Opposite Party No.1-Bank Ex.C4. Opposite Party No.1-Bank had issued cheque book to the complainants. So, all this fully proves that the Opposite Party No.1 has returned the cheque in question vide cheque returning memo Ex.C3, without any valid reason, as a result of which, the complainant No.1 could not pay his LIC premium regarding  LIC Policy bearing No. 470774757, in time and as such, he had to pay this amount alongwith penalty as is evident from the LIC premium receipt Ex.C9. So, certainly, Opposite Party No.1-Bank is in deficiency of service towards the complainants.
9. Consequently, we allow the complaint with cost and the Opposite Parties  are directed to pay the compensation to the complainants to the tune of Rs.5,000/-. Opposite Parties  are also directed to pay the cost of litigation to the complainants to the tune of Rs.2,000/-. Copies of the order be furnished to the parties free of cost. File is ordered to be consigned to the record room. Case could not be disposed of within the stipulated period due to heavy pendency of the cases in this Forum.

Dated: 18.01.2016.                                                            (Bhupinder Singh)                                                                                                                                                                                                      President

hrg                                                (Anoop Sharma)     (Kulwant Kaur Bajwa)   

                                              Member                         Member