Sri Debasis Bhattacharya, Member

         Both these appeals arise out of the common Order dated 24-07-2014, passed by the Ld. District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Unit II, Kolkata (hereinafter referred to as the District Forum) in C. C. No. 397/2013, whereby the complaint case has been decreed in favour of the Complainants. Since the same involve common question of law and facts, they are decided by this common order.

         Briefly stated, the facts are that in order to obtain a house building loan from the Bank, Complainants pledged 3 nos. NSCs bearing nos. 6NS/34EE844511, 6NS/29DD414229 and 6NS/49CC036416 of Rs. 10,000/-, Rs. 5,000/- and Rs. 1,000, respectively, with the Bank.  The said NSCs are stated to have been sent to the OP No. 5 for pledging the same in favour of the Bank, but till date the same has not been returned by the OP No. 5, although all the NSCs got matured. Finding no other alternative, the Complainants filed the case before the Ld. District Forum.

         OP Nos. 1 and 2 resisted the case by submitting WV, whereby it is stated that when the OP No. 5 did not return the concerned NSCs even after repeated reminders, the Bank requested it to issue duplicate NSCs.  After more than a year since such request was made, the OP No. 5 ultimately sent duplicate certificates to the Bank.  After receiving the same, the Bank sent its men to the place of the Complainants, but nobody was available at the given address.  Due to this reason, the NSCs were kept with the bank.  It is stated that after receiving summons from the Ld. District Forum, the Bank came to know that the Complainant has shifted to a new place.  The Bank strongly disputed the fact that there was any deficiency in service on their part and prayed for dismissal of the case.

         OP Nos. 3 to 5 also contested the case by filing WV, whereby it is stated that the NSCs in question were received by the OP No. 5 on 06-11-2006, but no pledging record were noted into the Guard File in respect of the NSCs concerned.  It is the further case of these OPs that the said NSCs concerned were handed over to the Complainant on 27-10-2007 under clear acquaintance of the Complainant into the authority letter of the OP bank.  So, there was no question of supplying the Certificates to the bank authority.  It is also stated that the OP Bank vide their letter dated 02-11-2011 informed about the loss of NSCs from their custody and afterwards, following a tripartite meeting held at the intervention of the Director, Consumer Affairs & Fair Business Practices, these OPs took necessary steps for issuance of duplicate NSCs and finally the same were issued in favour of the OP Bank on 01-04-2013.  Stating that there was no laches on their part, these OPs also prayed for dismissal of the case.

         Point to be decided in this appeal is whether the impugned order calls for any interference with the same over any sort of legal infirmity.

Decision with reasons

         It appears from the photocopy of letter dated 21-08-2009 of the Bank concerned that 3 NSCs were sent to the R.R.R. Sarani Sub-Post Office by the OP Bank through Registered Post on 09-11-2006 under Postal Receipt No. 957 for pledging the same in favour of the Bank concerned.  The Postal Authorities vide their letter dated 17-05-2010 also confirmed such booking and further stated that the same was forwarded through Kol RMS TD under Sl. No. 18/18 on the same day.  In fact, the R.R.R. Sarani Sub-Post Office vide its letter dated 24-07-2010 also confirmed receipt of the 3 nos. NSCs.  However, it is claimed by the R.R.R. Sarani Sub-Post Office vide its said letter dated 24-07-2010 that the NSCs were delivered to the Investor, Sri Pradip Dutta on 27-10-2007 under clear acquaintance into the authority letter of the OP bank.  However, most surprisingly, R.R.R. Sarani Sub-Post Office has not placed on record any supporting document to support such claim. 

         It is a fact that the OP Bank vide its letter dated 27-10-2007 did authorize Sri Pradip Dutta, one of the certificate-holders to take delivery of the NSCs from the R.R.R. Sarani Sub-Post Office after due pledging of the same in favour of the OP Bank and also after due renewal of the Certificates for another six years. However, there is nothing on record to show that the R.R.R. Sarani Sub-Post Office indeed handed over the duly renewed and pledged Certificates to said Sri Pradip Dutta.  Moreover, once a NSC gets renewed, normally a fresh Certificate bearing new account no. is issued by the Post Office. However, nowhere in its W.V. the R.R.R. Sarani Sub-Post Office has mentioned the new NSC nos. that it claimed to have delivered to Sri Pradip Dutta on 27-10-2007, let alone furnishing documentary proof in support of its claim.

         It is amply clear, therefore, that the Post Office concerned miserably failed to prove the bona fide of its claim and in such circumstances, we find every merit in the complaint of the petitioner-Complainant/Respondent No. 1 and hold that he is entitled to relief. However, we do not find any deficiency in service on the part of the Bank concerned.

         Now coming to the impugned Order, we find that although the Ld. District Forum has gone at great length to get into the bottom of the dispute.  However, it has been too harsh in awarding compensation in favour of the Petitioner Complainant/Respondent No. 1.  Moreover, as noted hereinabove, we have found that the OP Bank acted bona fide all along.  Accordingly, the impugned order is modified suitably as under.

         Consequently, the appeals are disposed of accordingly.

Hence,

O R D E R E D

         that FA/957/2014 and A/1296/2014 be and the same are allowed in part.  The impugned order is modified as under:-

“OP Postal Authority shall provide all accrued benefits pertaining to the 3 nos. NSCs in question w.e.f. 27-10-2007 till full and final payment is made. Together with this, the OP Postal Authority shall also pay a compensation and litigation cost of Rs. 10,000/- and Rs. 5,000/-, respectively, to the Complainant. The OP Postal Authority shall ensure strict compliance of this order within 40 days hence. OP Bank is exonerated of all charges.”

         Let the original copy of this order be kept with the record of FA/957/2014 and a photocopy thereof in the record of A/1296/2014.