Chandigarh

StateCommission

A/136/2020

IDBI Bank Ltd. - Complainant(s)

Versus

Sh. Manav Sharma - Opp.Party(s)

Ajay Sood Adv.

14 Oct 2021

ORDER

STATE CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION,

U.T., CHANDIGARH

 

 

Appeal No.	:	136 of 2020
Date of Institution	:	08.10.2020
Date of Order	:	14.10.2021

 

1. IDBI Bank Ltd., SCO No.162-163, Madhya Marg, Sector 9-C, Chandigarh, through its Manager/Authorised Signatory.

 

2. IDBI Bank Ltd., IDBI Tower, WTC Complex, Cuffe Parade, Mumbai-400005, through its Managing Director/Authorised Signatory.

 

…..Appellants /Opposite Parties.

Versus

1. Sh.Manav Sharma S/o Sh.Jatinder Sharma r/o House No.2476, Sector 37-C, Chandigarh and at present r/o 246, Maryland Drive, NSW 2145, Australia.
2. Ms. Jyoti Sharma W/o Sh.Manav Sharma r/o House No.2476, Sector 37-C, Chandigarh and at present r/o 246, Maryland Drive, NSW 2145, Australia.

Both through their Special Power of Attorney Sh.Jatinder Sharma S/o Late Sh.Brij Nandan Sharma, r/o House No.2476, Sector 37-C, Chandigarh.

                                                              …Respondents/Complainants.

BEFORE:   JUSTICE RAJ SHEKHAR ATTRI, PRESIDENT.

                MRS. PADMA PANDEY, MEMBER.

                MR. RAJESH K. ARYA, MEMBER.

 

Argued by:

 

Sh. Ajay Sood, Advocate for the appellants.

Sh. Gaurav Bhardwaj, Advocate for the respondents.

 

PER  PADMA PANDEY, MEMBER

                This appeal is directed against the order dated 08.06.2020, rendered by District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum-I (now District Commission), UT, Chandigarh (in short ‘the Forum’ only), vide which, it partly allowed Consumer Complaint bearing No.751 of 2019 against the Opposite Parties, which   reads  as under :-

“16.    Now turning to the facts of the present case, the certified copies of the title deed have already been obtained by the complainants/their SPA after making efforts at their own end and in the relied on cases the certified copies were yet to be obtained after fulfillment of codal formalities.  Further in the relied on cases the title deeds were non traceable while in the present case these were admittedly gutted in fire.  Thus, these propositions on point of fact have a minor variation though there is certainly loss of original title deeds and there may be some difficulty to fetch the prevailing market value or immediate buyer of the property as the title needs to be verified.  Thus, taking into consideration all the pros and cons, the present consumer complaint succeeds and the same is accordingly partly allowed. OPs are directed as under :-

1. to refund ticket value of Rs.2,05,310/- spent by the complainants on their to and fro air journey from Australia;
2. to pay a sum of Rs.2,00,000/- to the complainants as damages for the loss of the original documents in the fire, and their gross failure to intimate the complainants timely.
3. to pay an amount of Rs.75,000/- to the complainants as compensation for causing mental agony and harassment to them;
4. to pay Rs.15,000/- to the complainants as costs of litigation.

17.     This order be complied with by the OPs within thirty days from the date of receipt of its certified copy, failing which, they shall make the payment of the amounts mentioned at Sr.No.(i) to (iii) above, with interest @ 12% per annum from the date of this order, till realization, apart from compliance of direction at Sr.No.(iv) above.”

2.            In the complaint case before the Forum (now District Commission), the facts, in brief, are that the complainants purchased House No.A-43, Guru Teg Bahadur Nagar, Sector 14, Kharar, District SAS Nagar, Mohali after raising loan in the year 2005 from Axis Bank Ltd. but later on, the said loan was transferred to IDBI Bank Ltd. in the year 2012 and the original title documents of the property were deposited with the Opposite Parties Bank under mortgage terms and conditions at the time of availing the loan. The complainants repaid the outstanding loan in one go i.e. Rs.9,19,400/- on 28.02.2019 and the said loan account was closed, as such, the original documents i.e. title deed etc. were to be returned to the registered owner of the property and borrower for which, the Opposite Parties issued letter dated 07.03.2019 regarding the closure of the account. With a view to collect the documents, on 07.03.2019 the complainants got booked the flight tickets alongwith their children i.e. to and fro journey on payment of 4190.00 Australian Dollars (equivalent to Rs.2,05,310/- in Indian currency) for 11.04.2019 and the said tickets were non-refundable.  However, a letter dated 13.03.2019 received from the Opposite Parties that the original title deeds submitted by the complainants have been destroyed in the fire, which took place at Stock Holding Corporation of India, where all the documents were kept, to which, the father/father in law of the complainants informed the complainants to get the tickets cancelled, but as the amount of the tickets was non-refundable and the documents were to be collected, may be original or duplicate or say certified copies, therefore, they had to undertake the journey as per tickets booked. The father/father in law being a senior citizen, obtained the certified copies at his own expense and also suffered physical harassment as the Opposite Parties did not provide the said certified copies. Due to the act of the Opposite Parties, the complainants suffered a lot at the hands of the Opposite Parties because due to loss of original documents, they were unable to get home loan easily and also difficulty for selling the said property.  Ultimately, the complainants served a legal notice to the Opposite Parties on 04.06.2019 but to no avail. Hence, the complaint.

3.                The Opposite Parties in their reply (before the Forum) admitted the closure of the loan account of the complainants and the title deeds were to be returned. However, the same could not be returned as the same were gutted in fire, which broke out in the Stock Holding Corporation of India Ltd. (SHCIL) at Mumbai on  11.12.2017, for which, the copies of reports and FIR registered were placed on record and pleaded there was no deficiency in service or indulgence into unfair trade practice on their part.

4.                Aggrieved against the aforesaid order passed by the Forum (now District Commission), the instant appeal has been filed by the appellants/Opposite Parties.

5.                We have heard Counsel for the parties, and have gone through the evidence and record of the case as well as written arguments, carefully.

6.           Counsel for the appellants/Opposite Parties admitted regarding issuance of letter dated 07.03.2019 regarding closure of housing loan with the list of documents in the possession of the appellants but it was nowhere mentioned in the said letter that the physical or personal appearance of the original borrower is required to get back the original documents and the respondents/complainants never informed the appellants that they have shifted to Australia. He further submitted that the said documents were never destroyed due to deficiency in service on the part of the appellants/Opposite Parties but it was due to fire and the said fire was act of God and beyond the control of any one including the appellants. He prayed for setting aside the impugned order and allowing the appeal.

7.                On the other hand, Counsel for the respondents has submitted that the Forum has rightly passed the impugned order and prayed for dismissal of the appeal filed by the Opposite Parties.

8.                After going through the evidence and record of the case, we are of the considered opinion, that the appeal is liable to be dismissed, for the reasons to be recorded, hereinafter.

9.                The core question that falls for consideration before us is as to whether the Forum has rightly passed the impugned order.  The answer, to this, question is in the affirmative. It is the admitted fact that  initially the complainants took a loan from Axis Bank Ltd. and the same was transferred to IDBI Bank Ltd. and the entire loan amount was repaid on 28.02.2019. To prove this fact, the complainants also annexed a letter dated 07.03.2019 (Annexure C-3), which shows regarding closure of the loan. The contents of the said letter reads thus :-

“This is to inform you that as per our records your total Home Loan amount of Rs.1635000.00 has been repaid by you in full to IDBI Bank Ltd. and henceforth IDBI Bank Ltd. has no charge, lien or claim whatsoever on the property at House No.A-43, Guru Teg Bahadur Nagar, Sector 14, Kharar, District Kharar, Punjab 140603.”

It is also the admitted fact that the title deeds in original were deposited with the Opposite Parties as per the terms and conditions of equitable mortgage to secure the repayment of debts.  It is also the admitted fact that after payment of the entire loan amount, the documents in original were to be returned and for  that purpose, the complainants booked their air tickets to return to India on 07.03.2019 for collection of the documents but the same were not returned because the same were gutted in fire, which broke out in the Stock Holding Corporation of India Ltd. at Mumbai on 11.12.2017. However, the complainants were informed regarding this incident vide letter dated 13.03.2019 (Annexure C-6). The relevant portion of the said letter reads thus :-

“x x x x As the storage of original documents is centralized in Mumbai, we have forwarded, all the loan documents, security documents, title deeds, etc. of our customer including the documents deposited by you, to our office at Mumbai for the purpose of storage at our custodian i.e. Stock Holding Corporation of India Limited (SHCIL). However, we regret to inform you that a fire accident took place in the storage premises of SHCIL on December 11, 2017. Though, the Bank has taken all necessary precautions to keep the original title deeds in a fire proof & strong storage space, certain documents have been partly or fully damaged due to the fire extinguishers. X x x x”

10.              Now the allegations levelled by the appellants that it was nowhere mentioned in the aforesaid letters that the physical or personal appearance of the original borrower is required to get back the original documents, has no value at all because the complainants in para No.4 of their complaint clearly stated that “they also informed the complainants that the original documents shall only be handed over to the registered owner of the property and the borrower. It was told that the documents are lying at Mumbai office and it will take around one month for the documents to come and the complainants should accordingly plan their trip to India for this purpose.” Therefore, after repayment of the loan amount on 28.02.2019, the Opposite Parties issued a letter dated 07.03.2019 (Annexure C-3) to the complainants regarding closure of the loan and on the same very day, the complainants being the owner of the said property booked their air tickets to return to India for collection of original documents, which were in the custody of the Opposite Parties Bank. It is obvious that the complainants being the owner of the said property shall have right to collect their original documents from the Opposite Parties after repayment of the loan and it was not the duty of the complainants to get permission from the bank either to come to India or not. Also the complainants could sold the property after collection of the documents from the bank. So, there is no force in the allegation levelled by the appellants Bank and the same stands rejected.

11.              The next allegations levelled by the appellants is that the respondents/complainants never informed regarding shifting to Australia is concerned, it may be stated here that in the present case, the Opposite Parties have failed to place on record any document/letter which could show that they informed the complainants at the residential address of India regarding incident of fire i.e. in the year 2017 because their father/father in law i.e. Sh.Jatinder Sharma is residing on the same address as mentioned in the letter dated 07.03.2019 i.e. H.No.2476, Sector 37-C, Chandigarh.  The Opposite Parties informed the complainants regarding incident of fire only on 13.03.2019 i.e. after about 1 ½ years of the incident.  So, there is no force in the allegations levelled by the appellants and the same stands rejected.

12.              The next allegations levelled by the appellants/Opposite Parties is that the said documents were never destroyed due to deficiency in service on their part but it was due to fire and the said fire was an act of God and beyond the control of any one including the appellants is concerned. It is no doubt true that anytime or any place, the incident of fire could happen, but in the present case, the Opposite Parties washed off their hands at the incident because it was the sole duty or responsibility of the Opposite Parties, that when any of the customer deposits their valuable documents to the Bank, it was its duty to place the same in fire proof safe custody. After occurrence of the fire, it was the duty of the Bank to inform the complainants i.e. their valuable customers, but in the present case, the Opposite Parties informed the complainants after 1 ½ years of the said incident when the complainants repaid their loan. Therefore, the Forum in the impugned order rightly stated that “Had they informed the complainants, who were living in Australia, in time they certainly would not have planned the itinerary to visit India to collect the original title deeds.”  Even it was the duty of the Opposite Parties to obtain the certified copies of the said documents from the office of Sub Registrar as the same were public documents and thereafter supply the same to the complainants either through letter dated 07.03.2019 or 13.03.2019. No reasons have been explained why the OPs themselves did not obtain the certified copies of the documents from the Sub Registrar office, and then send them to the complainants or authorized representative who could have avoided their long arduous journey. It is not the case that the Opposite Parties did not have knowledge about the incident of fire because in the present case, the Opposite Parties cleverly waited for the closure of the loan and when the complainants closed their loan, the incident of fire to the complainants was informed. Even both the afore-extracted letter show that the Opposite Parties were silent about the return of the title deeds and then all of a sudden wrote a letter dated 13.03.2019 disclosing the said incident. So, we are of the view that certainly the Opposite Parties are at fault because the complainants suffered a lot at the hands of the Opposite Parties.  After going through the record, we are of the view that the Forum has rightly passed the impugned order.

13.              For the reasons recorded above, we are of the opinion that the order passed by the Forum (now District Commission), being based on the correct appreciation of evidence and law, on the point, does not suffer from any illegality or perversity. Hence, the appeal filed by the Opposite Parties, being devoid of merit, must fail, and the same stands dismissed, with no order as to costs. The order of the Forum (now District Commission) is upheld.

14.              Certified copies of order be given to the parties/their Counsel free of charge.

Pronounced.

14.10.2021                                                                      Sd/-

[RAJ SHEKHAR ATTRI]

PRESIDENT

 

Sd/-

(PADMA PANDEY)

        MEMBER

 

Sd/-

(RAJESH  K. ARYA)

MEMBER

Rb