BEFORE THE DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM, SAS NAGAR, MOHALI
Consumer Complaint No.110 of 2014
Date of institution: 17.02.2014
Date of Decision: 03.11.2015
Dr. Sardool Singh Ghumman son of Late Kashmira Singh Ghumman, resident of House No.3329, Sector 71, Mohali.
……..Complainant
Versus
SBI Cards & Payment Services Pvt. Ltd., DLF Infinity Tower C, 12th Floor, Block 2, Building 3, DLF Cyber City, Gurgaon 122002 (Haryana) through its Incharge/Manager.
………. Opposite Party
Complaint under Section 12 of the
Consumer Protection Act, 1986.
CORAM
Mrs. Madhu. P. Singh, President.
Shri Amrinder Singh Sidhu, Member
Mrs. R.K. Aulakh, Member.
Present: Shri Kulwinder Singh, counsel for the complainant.
Shri Sandeep Kumar Bokolia, counsel for the OP.
(Mrs. Madhu P. Singh, President)
ORDER
The complainant has filed the present complaint seeking following directions to the Opposite Party (for short ‘the OP’) to:
(a) get his CIBIL rectified.
(b) pay him Rs.3,00,000/- as compensation for deficiency in service and unfair trade practice.
(c) pay him Rs.25,000/- as litigation charges.
The case of the complainant is that on his application, SBI Credit Card No.4317575025298028 was issued to him by the OP on 29.10.2004. The complainant started using the credit card and paid the bills through cheques of Central Bank of India. Vide letters 15.05.2005 and 12.06.2005 the OP returned him cheque Nos.005588 and 005589 by informing that the outstation cheques could not be accepted. Inspite of receiving the payment, the OP blocked the credit card. The complainant started receiving undue demands from the OP and finally the complainant was advised vide letter dated 25.10.2005 to deposit Rs.9,000/- in one installment. Accordingly the complaint paid Rs.9,000/- to the agent of the OP vide receipt dated 08.11.2005 and the agent mentioned on the receipt that till 31st October, 2005 full and final payment was received and there is no outstanding amount due of any kind till today i.e. 08.11.2005 and the credit card facilities would be restored back at the earliest possible. The OP has not restored the card facility. The complainant started receiving bills for payment and on call from the complainant the official of the OP always felt regret and promised to send No Due Certificate. The complainant sent letters dated 18.10.2006 and 07.12.2006 and even visited Sector 17 Chandigarh Branch and torn his credit card in front of the Branch Manager. Vide another notice dated 12.11.2009 the complainant was advised to deposit Rs.27,640.34 and the complainant in reply to this informed that no payment is to be paid by him. The complainant approached another bank for obtaining loan who refused to give the loan to him on the ground that his CIBIL report is not good which was a big shock to him. With these allegations the complainant has filed the present complaint.
2. The OP in its written statement has pleaded that complainant is not consumer as defined under Section2 (1) (d) of the Consumer Protection Act. The complaint is time barred. There is no cause of action arose in favour of the complainant to file complaint against the OP. The complainant has suppressed the material facts from this Forum. The OP has already zeroised the credit card account by issuing No Due Certificate to the complainant. Thus, denying any deficiency in service on its part, the OP has sought dismissal of the complaint against it.
3. To succeed in the complaint, the complainant tendered in evidence affidavits Ex.CW-1/1, CW-1/2 and copies of the documents Ex.C-1 to C-16.
4. Evidence of the OP consists of affidavit of Prashant Sood, its authorized representative Ex.OP-1/1.
6. We have heard learned counsel for the parties and have also gone through the written arguments submitted by them.
7. The counsel for the complainant submitted that on account of acts of omission and commission on the part of the OP, wrong information was sent to the CIBIL despite the fact that the complainant had nothing outstanding against the credit card issued by the OP and further despite the fact that the OP has issued the No Due Certificate on 25.10.2005. Due to the acts of omission and commission, the image of the complainant who is a respectable member of the society, has been tarnished and further one bank, when approached for obtaining loan, refused to give him loan on the ground that his CIBIL report was not good. He further submitted that the OP has not taken any steps for rectification of his CIBIL status. Therefore, due to the acts of omission and commission, the complainant has suffered lot of tension and mental harassment for which he deserves to be awarded fair and adequate compensation.
8. The issuance of SBI Credit Card No.4317575025298028 by the OP to the complainant is not disputed. The complainant once started using the credit card and paid the bills through cheques of Central Bank of India. The OP vide its letter dated 15.05.2005 returned the cheque No. 005588 dated 09.05.2005 for Rs.15,000/- being an outstation cheque not acceptable. Another cheque No.005589 dated 12.06.2005 for Rs. 8722.00 issued by the complainant in discharge of his liability towards the OP was also returned by the OP. Therefore the complainant deposited the due amount in cash and the OP has issued him No Due Certificate vide Ex.C-6 dated 25.10.2005 as on 08.11.2005 and further promised to restore the credit card facility to the complainant. The OP without any intimation to the complainant has discontinued the facility thereafter and as a result due to the omission of the OP, the complainant vide registered letter dated 07.12.2006 has torn away the original credit card and put it in the drop box of the bank in order to cease the credit card business relationship with the bank forever. Still to the astonishment of the complainant, the complainant vide registered letter dated 12.11.2009 issued by the advocate of the OP, received a demand notice for payment of Rs.27,640.34 from the OP. The said letter has been duly replied to by the complainant wherein the complainant has denied any outstanding amount due and to make the record straight, made reference to the no due certificate dated 25.10.2005. Instead of considering the reply of the complainant and checking its records, the OP has put in CIBIL Consumer Credit Information Report on the site of Credit Information Bureau India Ltd. showing the complainant as on 19.09.2013 to be defaulter for an outstanding amount of Rs.2475/- is shown against the account information of the said credit card Ex.C-14 (Page-2). As per the complainant since he has severed his credit card business relationship with the OP vide his letter dated 07.12.2006 and has never availed the credit card facility from the OP thereafter, the issuance of demand notice dated 12.11.2009 for payment of Rs.27,640.34 Ex.C-11 and further putting the information on the CIBIL showing the complainant to be defaulter is an act of unfair trade practice.
9. Despite making request the OP has failed to get the rectification done on the CIBIL side qua his card account and as per the latest information dated 16.06.2015 retrieved from the site of the CIBIL, the current balance against the SBI Card Account is shown as nil which clearly goes to show that after filing of the complaint, the status of the account has been rectified on the CIBIL site.
10. Had the officials of the OP been careful in discharge of their duties in a devoted manner, such a mistake would not have occurred. On account of carelessness and negligence on the part of the OP, a lot of mental and physical harassment has been caused to the complainant as wrong information was given to CIBIL as is evident from CIBIL report Ex.C-14. The report on the CIBIL site, as per Ex.C-14, indicating the outstanding amount of Rs.2475.00 against the name of the complainant under the column account information, account details SBI Cards Account No.4317575025298028 has tarnished the image of the complainant in the eyes of his friends and relatives as the said wrong information is contrary to the facts on record i.e. the No Due Certificate issued by the OP Ex.C-6. No doubt, the information on the CIBIL site has been corrected as is evident from Ex.C-16 showing that the mistake committed by the officials of the OP has been rectified, yet they could not retrieve the image of the complainant. Thus, we are of the considered opinion that putting of wrong information about the account of SBI Credit Card No.4317575025298028 on the account of CIBIL, is certainly an act of deficiency in rendering the service on the part of the OP. Therefore, due to the acts of omission, amounting to deficiency in service, the complaint deserves to be allowed and the complainant deserves to be compensated.
11. As stated above, a lot of mental agony and physical harassment was caused to the complainant and his image was also tarnished. In Surindera Kumar Tyagi Vs. Jagat Nursing Home and Hospital and another, IV (2010) CPJ 1999 (NC), the principle of law laid down by the Hon’ble National Commission was to the effect that the compensation should be commensurate with loss and injury suffered by the complainant. Therefore, we are of the considered that a compensation to the tune of Rs.15,000/- will be just, fair, reasonable and adequate keeping in view the facts and circumstances of the case. In support of our above findings we rely on the decision of Hon’ble State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Chandigarh in First Appeal No.400 of 2013 titled as Anita Goyal Vs. Punjab National Bank decided on 13.09.2013.
12. Therefore, in view of above discussion, the complaint is allowed and the OP is directed as under:
(a) to pay to the complainant a lump sum compensation of Rs.15,000/- (Rs. Fifteen thousand only) for mental agony, harassment and costs of litigation.
Compliance of this order be made within a period of thirty days from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order. Certified copies of the order be furnished to the parties forthwith free of cost and thereafter the file be consigned to the record room.
Pronounced.
November 03, 2015.
(Mrs. Madhu P. Singh)
President
(Amrinder Singh Sidhu)
Member
(Mrs. R.K. Aulakh)
Member
