Punjab

Faridkot

CC/21/48

Gurwinder kaur - Complainant(s)

Versus

Sahara Credit Cooperative Society Ltd - Opp.Party(s)

Amit Kumar Mittal

31 Jul 2024

ORDER

DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION, FARIDKOT

 

            CC No. :                      48 of 2021

Date of Institution:       03.03.2021

Date of Decision :        31.07.2024

 

Gurwinder Kaur aged about 46 years, wife of Harbhajan Singh resident of Street No.02, Bathinda Road, Baba Farid Nagar, Jaitu, Tehsil Jaitu, District Faridkot.

...Complainant

Versus

1. Sahara Credit Cooperative Society Limited, Bathinda through its Branch Manager, Amrik Singh Road, Near Dev Heavan Hotel, Ist Floor of Sunflame Limited, Bathinda.
2. Sahara Credit Cooperative Society Limited through its Chairman/MD, Sahara India Bhawan, 1, Kapurthala Complex, Aliganj, Lucknow-226024.

                                            ....Opposite parties

Complaint under Section 35 of the

Consumer Protection Act, 2019.

 

Quorum:     Sh  Rakesh Kumar Singla, President,

Smt Param Pal Kaur, Member.  

 

Present:      Sh Amit Mittal, Ld Counsel for Complainant,    

                 Sh Rajesh Duggal, Ld Counsel for OPs.

 

* * * * * * *

ORDER

(Rakesh Kumar Singla, President)

                             Complainant has filed the present complaint under Section 35 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 against Ops seeking directions to them to refund the amount of Rs.1,23,278/- alongwith interest and for further

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directing them to pay Rs.2,00,000/- as compensation for mental agony and harassment besides litigation expenses of Rs.55,000/-.

2                                                       Briefly stated, the case of the complainant is that OPs floated a scheme for cash investment and complainant deposited Rs.1,06,000/- in the account of Ops in the name of Sahara Credit Cooperative Society on 06.08.2018. Ops issued certificates having their logo and hologram in favour of complainant with date of maturity as 06.08.2020. It is submitted that complainant requested OPs several times to pay his amount of Rs.1,06,000/- alongwith maturity value and interest upto date, but Ops have neither refunded his principal amount nor interest thereon, which amounts to deficiency in service and trade mal practice on their part. Even legal notice issued by complainant through his counsel to Ops bore no fruit. All this caused great harassment to complainant and he has prayed for seeking directions to OPs refund his amount. He has prayed for accepting the present complaint alongwith compensation and litigation expenses besides the main relief. Hence, the instant complaint.

3                                                         The Counsel for complainant was heard with regard to admission of the complaint and vide order dated 16.03.2021, complaint was admitted and notice was ordered to be issued to the opposite party.

 4                                                                On receipt of notice, OPs appeared in the Forum through counsel and filed reply, wherein asserted that complaint filed by complainant is false and frivolous and asserted that complainant became member of OPs Society and if he has any grievance with Society, then, he is bound to refer his dispute before Arbitrator as per clause 11 of the terms and conditions of the Contribution of the Scheme Sahara Credit Cooperative Society Limited. It is

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further averred that complainant is not the consumer of answering Ops and there is no relationship of consumer and service provider between complainant and answering OPs. Ops are Society duly registered under Multi State Cooperative Society Act, 2002 and complainant is member of Society and thus, for any dispute between Society and its member, consumer complaint is not maintainable. It is sternly denied that answering OPs allured the complainant, rather asserted that complainant is and educated person and she has herself signed the documents after understanding the entire contents. Moreover, complainant never visited their office nor made any request for redressal of her grievance. It is further averred that complainant herself deposited her amount to  take good benefit of her amount. Moreover, demand raised by complainant is at enhanced rate of interest, which is not permissible. It is further averred that no cause of action arises against them and asserted that there is no deficiency in service on their part and prayed for dismissal of complaint with costs.

 5                                               Parties were given proper opportunities to prove their respective case. The complainant tendered in evidence his affidavit Ex.C-1 and documents Ex C-2 to C-12 and then, closed the evidence.

6                                           In order to rebut the evidence of complainant, ld counsel for OPs tendered in evidence affidavit of Rajnikant Shrivastva Ex OP-1 and documents Ex OP-2 to Ex OP-3 and closed the same on behalf of OPs.

7                                  .                We have heard the learned counsel for the complainant as well as for opposite party and have also very carefully gone through the affidavits and documents placed on the file.

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8                                                 From the careful perusal of record and pleadings put forward by respective parties, it is observed that case of the complainant is that on assurance OPs, complainant deposited Rs. 1,06,000/- in the account of Ops on 06.08.2018, in the name of Sahara Credit Cooperative Society in a cash investment scheme floated by Ops and Ops issued certificates having their logo and hologram in favour of complainant with date of maturity as 06.08.2020. After maturity date, complainant requested OPs several times to refund his amount of Rs.1,06,000/- alongwith maturity value and interest thereon, but Ops have neither refunded his principal amount nor interest, which amounts to deficiency in service and has caused great harassment to complainant. Repeated requests made by complainant before OPs, bore no fruit. He has prayed for accepting the present complaint and stressed on documents Ex C-1 to Ex C-12.

9                                    The complainant’s claim before this Commission is with regard to non-payment of the amounts deposited by way of FDRs in the Sahara Group of Cooperative Societies.

10                                    It is apt to mention that during the pendency of present complaint, the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India passed judgement dated 29.03.2023 in I.A. bearing No.56308 of 2023 in Writ Petition(Civil) No.191 of 2022 titled as Pinak Pani Mohanty Versus Union of India and Others with W.P.(C)No.6/2023(X), vide which, all the suits/complaint/execution proceedings qua the present Opposite Parties instituted or pending are held to be determined by the Special Authority constituted vide above said order. For the sake of convenience, the relevant part of the judgement reproduced as under:-

 

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“3.        Having heard Shri Tushar Mehta, learned Solicitor General appearing on behalf of the Union of India and taking into consideration the facts narrated hereinabove and when it is reported that Rs. 2253 Crores had been taken out of the Sahara Credit Cooperative Society Ltd., i.e., one of the four Sahara Group Multi-State Cooperative Societies and deposited with SEBI in the “Sahara-SEBI Refund Account” and the amount lying in the “Sahara-SEBI Refund Account” is lying unutilized and the genuine depositors of the Sahara Group of Cooperative Societies, which otherwise, shall be entitled to get back their money, the prayer sought in the present application seems to be reasonable and which shall be in the larger public interest / interest of the genuine depositors of the Sahara Group of Cooperative Societies. Therefore, the present application stands disposed of with the following directions:-

i.        Out of the total amount of Rs. 24,979.67 Crores lying in the “Sahara-SEBI Refund Account”, Rs. 5000 Crores be transferred to the Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies, who, in turn, shall disburse the same against the legitimate dues of the depositors of the Sahara Group of Cooperative Societies, which shall be paid to the genuine depositors in the most transparent manner and on proper identification and on submitting proof of their deposits and proof of their claims and to be deposited in their respective bank accounts directly.

ii.       The disbursement shall be supervised and monitored by Justice R. Subhash Reddy, Former Judge of this Court with the able assistance of Shri Gaurav Agarwal, learned Advocate, who is appointed as Amicus Curiae to assist Justice R. Subhash Reddy as well as the Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies in disbursing the amount to the genuine depositors of the Sahara Group of Cooperative Societies. The manner and modalities for making the payment is to be worked out by the Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies in consultation with Justice

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R. Subhash Reddy, Former Judge of this Court and Shri Gaurav Agarwal, learned Advocate.

iii.        X xxxx xxx xx. Xxxx xxx

iv.      We direct that the amount be paid to the respective genuine depositors of the Sahara Group of Cooperative Societies out of the aforesaid amount of Rs. 5,000 Crores at the earliest, but not later than nine months from today. The balance amount thereafter be again transferred to the “Sahara-SEBI Refund Account”.

11                                            In view of the above order passed by Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, the Consumer Disputes Redressal Commissions are now disposing of variants complaints and execution applications related to Sahara Group of Cooperative Societies. For the ready reference one of such judgement of the Hon’ble State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, UT, Chandigarh passed in First Appeal no.A/34/2023 titled as Reena Devi Vs  M/s Hamara India Credit Cooperative Society and others reproduced as under:-

“we take our judicial hands off from the matter in view of the order dated 29.03.2023 passed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case titled as “Pinak Pani Mohanty Vs. Union of India & Ors. Writ Petition(s) (Civil) no.191/2022”

Further it directed the appellant to take necessary steps for recovery of due amount through the Central Registrar of Cooperative Society, as per the mandate of Hon’ble Supreme Court, if so advised.

12                                  It is, thus, clear from the above discussion that the genuineness of the claims of the depositors/investors of Sahara Group of Cooperative Societies  and disbursal of the amount deposited with them is to be

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exclusively determined by the Special Authority and the manner and modalities for making the payment is to be worked out by it in consultation with  Hon’ble Justice R. Subhash Reddy, Former Judge of the Apex Court and Sh. Gaurav Agarwal, Amicus Curiae and for that purpose an amount of Rs.5000/- Crores has been ordered to be transferred  to the Special Authority out of “Sahra-SEBI Refund Account”  for further disbursal of the same against legitimate dues  of the depositors of the Sahara Group of Cooperative  Societies.  Therefore, we have no hesitation to hold that no authority including this Commission has the power to pass directions for disbursal of the claim except the Special Authority authorized by the  Hon’ble Apex Court vide the aforesaid order.

13                           In view of the matter as discussed above, the present complaint stands disposed off. However, the complainant is at liberty to approach the Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies (Special Authority) for the recovery of due amount, as per the mandate of Hon’ble Supreme Court. Period consumed in present litigation shall be excluded for the purpose of calculating limitation.

14                           Complaint case could not be decided within stipulated period due to heavy pendency of work and incomplete quorum.

15                           Copy of the order be supplied to parties free of cost as per law. File be consigned to the record room.

Announced in Commission :

Dated: 31.07.2024             

(Param Pal Kaur)           (Rakesh Kumar Singla)

                                            Member                        President