Order No.  14  dt.  30/07/2019

            Case of the complainant in brief is that the complainant used to maintain one savings bank account bearing no. 25332 and a R.D. account bearing no. 001536 with Canara Bank, Princep Ghat Street Branch, Kolkata – 700 072 (o.p. no.2). Thereafter, complainant made an application for credit facility of Rs.16 Lakh with o.p. bank for purchasing a flat and the loan was sanctioned in his favour on 04/08/2016 with monthly repayment of Rs.14,342/- on ECS mandate.  On 16/08/2016 complainant signed loan agreement acknowledging the terms and conditions adhere to the agreement and used to pay installments through loan account no. 00056 maintained by o.p. bank. For such payment complainant made standing instruction to draw out the EMI amount from his salary account with Syndicate Bank, New Delhi but on 16^th June, 2018 o.p. no.2 deducted Rs.10,060.78 from his savings bank account without any intimation to the complainant. Due to this unauthorized deduction of Rs.10,060.78 from savings bank account, the R.D. account remained unpaid in the month of June,2018 and consequently the account holder was made a defaulter for non payment. Complainant alleged that op- bank, thereby, failed to provide desired service in respect of the accounts maintained in the o.p. bank as per the standing instruction of the complainant. Due to arbitrary action on the part of the o.p. complainant had to suffer unwarranted harassment and mental agony. The complainant caused to issue legal notice on 09/07/2018 but o.p. remained unmoved producing any solution to the complainant. Finding no other alternative complainant lodged this complaint praying  direction upon the o.p. to pay Rs.2 Lakh only to the complainant as compensation for harassment, mental agony, loss of social status and financial loss along with litigation cost of Rs.50,000/-.

            o.p. contested the case the case by filing w/v.  In the wv ld. lawyer of the o.p. stated that o.p. bank sanctioned a loan of Rs.16 Lakh in favour of the complainant for purchasing  a flat at Thakurpukur against the EMI  payment of Rs.14,342/- to be paid on 16^th of every month. Ld. Lawyer of the o.p. pointed out that since amount of the ECS in the  housing loan was not received on 16/06/2018 from its source account of the complainant, the system of the bank deducted an amount of Rs.10,060.78 standing as balance in the savings bank account no. 25332 of the complainant on 18/06/2018 i.e. two days after the due date. Consequently the R.D. account had not been funded by Rs7000/- from the saving account which was already left dry by the loan account. As the ECS of the housing loan was not credited in a particular time i.e. on 16/06/2018, the system automatically deducted the amount from the nearby savings bank account of the complainant. Moreover, o.p. responded to legal notice of the complainant by issuing letter clarifying the points raised by the complainant. Hence the complainant had no necessity to file this case.

            On the basis of the pleading of the respective parties the follow points are to be decided:-

1. Whether there was any agreement between the parties for management of loan account?
2. Whether there was any specific instruction regarding the management of FD account?
3. Whether there was any unfair trade practice on the part of the o.p. bank?
4. Whether the complainant is entitled to get any relief as prayed for?

                                                   Judgement

            All the points are taken up together for the sake of brevity and avoidance of repetition of facts.

            Ld. Lawyer for the complainant argued that the complainant used to maintain one savings bank account bearing no. 25332 and a R.D. account bearing no. 001536 with Canara Bank, Princep Ghat Street Branch, Kolkata – 700 072 (o.p. no.2). Complainant made an application for credit facility of Rs.16 Lakh with o.p. bank for purchasing a flat and the loan was sanctioned in his favour on 04/08/2016 with monthly repayment of Rs.14,342/- on ECS mandate.  On 16/08/2016 complainant signed loan agreement acknowledging the terms and conditions adhere to the agreement and used to pay installments through loan account no. 00056 maintained by o.p. bank. For such payment complainant made standing instruction to draw out the EMI amount from his salary account with Syndicate Bank, New Delhi but on 16^th June, 2018 o.p. no.2 deducted Rs.10,060.78 from his savings bank account without any intimation to the complainant. Due to this unauthorized deduction of Rs.10,060.78 from savings bank account, the R.D. account remained unpaid in the month of June,2018 and consequently the account holder was made a defaulter for non payment. Complainant alleged that op- bank, thereby, failed to provide desired service in respect of the accounts maintained in the o.p. bank as per the standing instruction of the complainant. Due to arbitrary action on the part of the o.p. complainant had to suffer unwarranted harassment and mental agony. The complainant caused to issue legal notice on 09/07/2018 but o.p. remained unmoved producing any solution to the complainant.

            Ld. Lawyer for the o.p. argued  that o.p. bank sanctioned a loan of Rs.16 Lakh in favour of the complainant for purchasing  a flat at Thakurpukur against the EMI  payment of Rs.14,342/- to be paid on 16^th of every month. Ld. Lawyer of the o.p. pointed out that since amount of the ECS in the  housing loan was not received on 16/06/2018 from its source account of the complainant, the system of the bank deducted an amount of Rs.10,060.78 standing as balance in the savings bank account no. 25332 of the complainant on 18/06/2018 i.e. two days after the due date. Consequently the R.D. account had not been funded by Rs7000/- from the saving account which was already left dry by the loan account. As the ECS of the housing loan was not credited in a particular time i.e. on 16/06/2018, the system automatically deducted the amount from the  savings bank account on the standing mandate of the complainant. Moreover, o.p. responded to legal notice of the complainant by issuing letter clarifying the points raised by the complainant. Hence the complainant had no necessity to file this case.

            Considering the submission of the respective parties and on perusal of documents on record it is evident that complainant used to maintain three accounts with the o.p. bank namely savings bank account, R.D. account with monthly installments of Rs7000/- and loan account having  credit liability of Rs.16 Lakh with o.p. bank for purchasing a flat. The loan was sanctioned in his favour on 04/08/2016 with monthly repayment of Rs.14,342/- on ECS mandate.  On 16/08/2016 complainant had signed the loan agreement acknowledging the terms and conditions adhere to the agreement and used to pay installments through loan account no. 00056 maintained by o.p. bank.  It is also evident that the loan account and R.D. account of the complainant had been funded with fund transfer of Rs.14,342/- on 16^th day of the month and with fund transfer of Rs.7,000/- on 25^th day of the same month from the source of Syndicate Bank A/c of the complainant and  the saving bank A/c in the Canara Bank  respectively. Such fund transfer were caused to be happened on the standing instruction of the complainant particularly for ECS payment of loan account i.e. A/c No. 315619000056.  ECS is an electronic clearing system for transfer of fund from one account to another that facilitates paperless credit/debit instruction directly linked to the account of the customer for effecting periodic payments. Customer has to give ECS mandate only once. From the submitted documents on record it is clear that ECS mandate of the customer had not been honored for want of sufficient amount of fund to transfer Rs.14,342/- to loan account on 16/06/2018. The ECS mandate pertaining to the loan a/c of the complainant, therefore, compelled to transfer the existing balance of Rs.10,060.78 standing in the credit of the saving bank account on 18/06/2018. With such action o.p. bank had not made any unfair trade practice. On signing the loan agreement complainant had already authorized the bank to debit his account with the bank at any time without any further reference to the customer. Therefore, o.p. bank did not do any wrong in transferring of Rs.10,060.78 from the savings bank account resulting balance in the SB a/c to zero. Maintenance of R.D. account by feeding with fund is the duty of the complainant by paying Rs.7,000/- on 16^th of every month. Penalty for not paying the installment of Rs7000/- in the RD a/c on due date was made as per rule. Moreover, o.p. responded to legal notice of the complainant by issuing letter clarifying the points raised by the complainant.

            With the above points in view we hold that there was no unfair trade practice or deficiency in service  on the part of the o.ps and therefore, the complainant is not entitled to get any relief as prayed for.

            Thus, all the points are disposed of.

            Hence, it is ordered

            that CC/275/2018 is dismissed on contest without cost against the o.ps.