BEFORE THE DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION, SIRSA.
Consumer Complaint no. 494 of 2019
Date of Institution : 26.08.2019
Date of Decision : 05.03.2021.
Gurjot Singh, aged 28 years son of Shri Balwinder Singh, resident of Kothi No.3, Begu Road, Shah Satnam Ji Nagar, Sirsa, now at 36696 Port Sailwood dr Newark ca 94560, USA, through her special power of attorney Gurpreet Kaur wife of Shri Harvinder Singh, resident of C-36, Shah Satnam Ji Nagar, Begu Road, Sirsa, District Sirsa.
……Complainant.
Versus.
- State Bank of India, Branch at Shahpur Begu, Tehsil and District Sirsa, through its Branch Manager.
- Rekha Rani, Branch Manager, State Bank of India, Shahpur Begu Branch Tehsil and District Sirsa.
- Regional Manager, State Bank of India, Sirsa, District Sirsa.
- Ombudsman, C/o Reserve Bank of India, 4th Floor, Sector 17, Chandigarh.
...…Opposite parties.
Complaint under Section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act,1986.
Before: SH. RAGHBIR SINGH…………………………PRESIDENT
SMT. SUKHDEEP KAUR………….MEMBER
Present: Sh. JBL Garg, Advocate for complainant.
Sh. Rishi Sharma, Advocate for opposite parties.
ORDER
The case of the complainant in brief is that complainant is account holder bearing No. 32731480056 with op no.1 and being eligible person took the car loan from op no.1. Accordingly, the car bearing registration No. HR-24R/1896 was hypothecated with op no.1. It is further averred that complainant shifted to U.S.A. California and he appointed his real sister Smt. Gurpreet Kaur as his special power of attorney. The complainant through his said sister deposited the whole due amount of car loan and op no.1 also got deposited the said amount from his sister without any hesitation and also got completed all the due formalities in this regard from her. It is further averred that after the clearance of the loan amount, the complainant through his special power of attorney requested the ops no.1 and 2 to supply her No Dues Certificate/ No objection certificate including Form No.35-A regarding the said car loan papers enabling the complainant to further sell out/ transfer the registered ownership of aforesaid car to anyone else as per his need. That special power of attorney of complainant completed all the formalities on behalf of complainant regarding the said car loan, but op no.2 acting as King of the Bank caused unnecessary harassment to the special power of attorney of complainant and unnecessarily forced her to take rounds of the bank and has illegally withheld the issuance of Form No.35-A and other papers enabling the complainant to get cleared/ cancelled the hypothecation of the car and to further sell the car. It is further averred that complainant asked the op no.2 to express her demand, if any liable to be performed by complainant which the op no.2 also failed to issue. That complainant approached the ops and requested them to admit the claim of complainant but they did not pay any heed to the same. Ultimately, the complainant got served a legal notice upon ops on 1.5.2019, but of no use. Hence, this complaint.
3. On notice, opposite parties appeared and filed written statement taking certain preliminary objections. On merits, it is submitted that para no.2 of the complaint is denied for want of knowledge to the extent that complainant Gurjot Singh shifted to USA California. However, it is admitted that loan amount of the aforesaid car has been deposited and said account has been closed by the borrower, but it is specifically denied that Smt. Gurpreet Kaur is legal power of attorney holder. The said loan amount has not been deposited being Special Power of Attorney Holder. It is further submitted that as a matter of fact Ms. Gurpreet Kaur being the Special Power of Attorney holder requested the op no.1 bank to supply her no due certificate/ no objection certificate including Form No.35-A regarding the said car loan. The op no.1 bank denied for supply of these documents as she is not a legally special power of attorney holder as the copy of the special power of attorney deposited with the Bank is not a legal and valid document. The op no.1 Bank through its Branch Manager op no.2 requested Ms. Gurpreet Kaur that an application duly signed by Sh. Gurjot Singh for supply of these documents may be filed and then the op no.1 bank shall supply these documents on his address given to the Bank. But no such application has been submitted by Sh. Gurjot Singh. It is further submitted that complainant has not completed all the formalities as alleged and that complaint has not been duly signed by the complainant himself/ his duly legally authorized special power of attorney holder. Remaining contents of complaint are also denied to be wrong and prayer for dismissal of complaint made.
4. The parties then led their respective evidence.
5. We have heard learned counsel for the parties and have perused the case file carefully.
6. In order to prove the contents of complaint, Smt. Gurpreet Kaur special power of attorney holder of complainant has furnished her affidavit Ex.C1/A in which she has reiterated all the facts mentioned in the complaint. She has also tendered copy of statement of account as Ex.C1, copy of pass book Ex.C2, copy of special power of attorney Ex.C3, copies of e-mails Ex.C4 to Ex.C9, copy of legal notice Ex.C10, copies of postal receipts Ex.C11, copy of letter for cancellation of lien Ex.C12, copy of application moved to the Manager SBI Ex.C13. On the other hand, ops have furnished affidavit of Smt. Rekha Rani, Branch Manager as Ex.RW1/A. The ops have not placed any other evidence/ document despite availing several opportunities and the evidence of ops stands closed by order.
7. Admittedly, Gurjot Singh complainant obtained car loan from opposite party no.1 in the month of January, 2013 which fact is also evident from Ex.C1 and accordingly the car of the complainant was hypothecated with the bank. According to the complainant, said car loan amount with ops no.1 to 3 has been cleared by him through his sister Smt. Gurpreet Kaur his special power of attorney holder and she also completed all other formalities in this regard on behalf of complainant. The factum of clearing of car loan is also proved from the copy of statement of account Ex.C1. The copy of special power of attorney executed by Gurjot Singh in favour of his sister Smt. Gurpreet Kaur is also placed on file as Ex.C3 and perusal of the same reveals that Sh. Gurjot Singh duly appointed his sister Smt. Gurpreet Kaur as his Special Attorney and authorized her to execute the documents regarding issuance of all the papers in respect of the loan clearance and to obtain No dues certificate, Form No.35-A and all other relevant papers so that the car can be sold to anyone else. But however, when the bank did not issue No dues certificate and Form No.35-A etc. to the sister of the complainant/ his special power of attorney holder, the complainant also sent e-mails to op no.1 showing their disappointment and also requested to help them in this regard but despite that the bank remained adamant not to issue NOC etc. Though, in reply to his email, the bank sent a mail dated 19.3.2019 to Mr. Gurjot Singh mentioning therein that No Dues certificate for car loan has been dispatched to his registered address in the account, but the bank has failed to produce on file any copy of the said no dues certificate. Moreover, the bank was not only to issue No Dues certificate but was also under legal obligation to issue Form No.35-A alongwith all other relevant documents when the loan amount was cleared by the complainant through his sister/ special power of attorney holder. It is surprising that bank has accepted huge amount of loan amount from sister of complainant being his special power of attorney holder in his back as complainant is residing in USA but has refused to issue required papers to his same sister/ special power of attorney holder despite authorization of complainant. Even the Branch Manager of the bank had written a letter to the Registration Authority, Sirsa on 27.3.2019, copy of which is placed on file as Ex.C12 and it was mentioned in the letter that borrower has liquidated the outstanding in his/her account with us, it is requested that our lien noted in the registration certificate (RC) of the vehicle No. HR24R1896 may be cancelled under advice to us. The ops no.1 to 3 have failed to explain that what formalities have not been completed by complainant. So, we are of the view that bank has caused deficiency in service and has also caused harassment to the complainant.
8. In view of our above discussion, we allow the present complaint and direct the opposite parties no.1 to 3 to issue No Dues Certificate/ No Objection Certificate alongwith Form35-A and all other relevant documents to Smt. Gurpreet Kaur sister/ special power of attorney holder of complainant enabling them to get cleared/ cancelled the hypothecation of the car within a period of 7 days from the date of receipt of copy of this order. We further direct the opposite parties no.1 to 3 to pay a sum of Rs.10,000/- as compensation for harassment and Rs.2,000/- as litigation expenses to her on behalf of complainant. However, no liability of op no.4 is made out and as such complaint qua op no.4 stands dismissed. A copy of this order be supplied to the parties free of costs. File be consigned to the record room.
Announced. Member President,
Dated:05.03.2021. District Consumer Disputes
Redressal Commission, Sirsa.
