The present complaint has been filed by a senior citizen (73 years old) elderly widow (Smt.Bhajan Kaur by name) praying for judicious dispensation of justice by way of immediate release of her ‘pension’ by the opposite party Bank in her Savings Bank A/c in the interest of equity, good conscious and natural justice; under the statutory provisions of the Consumer Protection Act’ 1986.
2. The complainant’s case in brief is that since ‘demise’ of her MES employee/pensioner husband on 31.12.1981, she has been drawing her family pension Rs.8,000/- pm from her Savings Bank A/c with the opposite party Bank (hereinafter, for short ‘OP Bank’). Some 3-4 months back, the Branch Manager informed her of having received Rs.1,39,000/- (approximately) in her account and she could withdraw the same. Thus, she withdrew the amount in two ‘goings’ and purchased some ‘house-hold’ goods and also cleared some outstanding dues etc. However, when she visited the Bank in May’2016 to withdraw her monthly pension, the Manager advised her of the ‘inadvertent’ credit of amounts in her A/c and thus she should stop getting her pension from then onwards whereas she had received ‘3’ nos. of Pensions at an enhanced rate. The complainant has further disclosed that she suffers from Heart Ailment since long, gets her medical treatment at Tuli Hospital, Amritsar and has to take ‘medicines’ worth Rs.5,000/- to Rs.6,000/- every month in order to keep ‘alive’/continue ‘living’ her life. Lastly, she has stated that the OP Bank Manager has committed an ‘excess’ to her and he shall be held liable in case some ‘loss’ incurs to her during the period. The complainant closes her complaint requesting for ‘immediate’ release of her pension and dispensation of justice in her case.
3. The opposite party Bank appeared and filed its written reply through the counsel pleading therein that the complainant’s SB A/c # 9781 was inadvertently credited with amounts pertaining to her name-sake customer’s A/c # 9795 and thus she had no right , title or interest with the transferred amount. A legal notice dated 16.05.2016 was also served upon the complainant but instead of returning the amounts she has filed the present false, frivolous and baseless complaint. The OP Bank has again rebutted on merits all allegations as made out in the complaint and has finally prayed for its dismissal with special costs.
4. The complainant has filed her own affidavit Ex.C1 to support the allegations of her complaint along with copy of her Bank A/c Pass Book Ex.C2 that does prove the credit and subsequent withdrawal of the inadvertently credited amounts in dispute. The complainant has also produced the Heart Specialist’s treatment & prescription slips (Ex.C3 to Ex.C11) duly proving that she has been suffering from ‘heart-ailment’ since the year 2012. In reciprocation and to support its rebuttal and averments the OP Bank has produced ‘affidavit’ EX.OPW-1/A of its Manager, copy of legal notice Ex.OP1 dated 16.05.2016 and A/c statement Ex.OP2 proving the erroneous credits and the unfair subsequent withdrawals.
5. We have carefully examined and thoroughly considered the evidence along with its supporting documents and find that the complainant has successfully proved the disputed credits by the Bank through its own ‘acts & omissions’ duly followed by her thoughtless but bank–consented debits. Further, the complainant has expressed her inability to repay back the erroneously credited amounts on the alibis of having spent the same on household goods and payment of her overdue outstanding besides expenses incurred on her medical ailments and treatments etc. The complainant’s pleadings may have ‘some’ emotional value attracting emotional ‘sympathy’ but these shall not have any ‘legal’ value attracting debit ‘waiving’. The applicable statute Law is clear on the subject matter of erroneous payments by virtue of section 72 of the Indian Contract Act’ 1872 that states:
72. Liability of person to whom money is paid, or thing delivered, by mistake or under coercion.- A person to whom money has been paid, or anything delivered, by mistake or under coercion, must repay or return it. Illustrations: ……
Finally, the complainant shall be held liable to repay the amounts credited by the OP Bank in her Savings Bank but by mistake. Its waiving etc shall be legally negated as the credits by ‘mistake of fact’ were never gracious or alike payments and thus the receiver complainant shall always be legally liable to repay the same.
6. We proceed further to discuss and define the role of the OP Bank who have credited the disputed amounts though through a bona fide mistake of fact (the ‘2’ A/c holders being name-sake of each-other) but that does also speak of its deficiency in service since the ‘2’ A/cs had different A/c nos and parentage etc. And, the mistake continued to stay afoot in spite of the fact that a bank A/c entry is first entered by operator, then passed by supervisor and further tallied at a higher level to ensure accuracy. The non-detection of ‘erroneous’ entry/ mistake itself speaks of lapse/deficiency in Bank’s routine working. However, the Bank is legally entitled to recover back such erroneous ‘amounts’ but shall however be not entitled to ‘freeze’ complainant’s A/c or ‘with-hold/deduct’ (fully) the complainant’s ‘pension’ in her SB A/c.
7. In the light of the all above, we are of the considered opinion that the present complaint shall be best disposed of by issuing directions to the OP Bank to immediately allow operation in the complainant’s SB A/c and release the monthly family ‘pension’ subject to deduction of 50% cut per month for the purpose of effecting recovery of the due amount as per repayment schedule to be drawn by the OP but it need be ensured that at no stage any harassment is caused to the complainant in operating her SB A/c and getting her pension regularly.
8. 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)
OCT. 13, 2016 Member.
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