ORDER
SH. RAKESH KAPOOR, PRESIDENT
The complainant was holder of a gold card bearing number 4129058683156976 issued by the OP. It is the case of the complainant that he had made purchases to the tune of Rs. 3000/- only on this card which had a credit limit of Rs. 39500/. It is also the case of the complainatn that he had been making payment from time to time in the said account but no statement of account had been received by him . he has further alleged that Sh. Rahul Thakur , the recovery agent had been receiving payment from him on time and had misbehaved with him for which he had lodged an FIR against him. He has alleged that a sum of Rs. 42639.44 has been shown as outstanding against him. Even though, he had already made a payment in this regard . Hence, the complaint.
Even though , the complaint has been contested by the OP and it has filed a reply yet the defence of the OP cannot be looked into as its defence has already been stuck off vide our order dated 9.11.2015.
We have heard arguments advanced at the bar and have perused the record.
The complainant has filed an affidavit wherein he has deposed that he had paid the amounts due from time to time but the same were not reflected in the statement of account. he has further deposed that the recovery agent had already collected outstanding dues from time to time and the OP had not taken into consideration the receipts issued by him in this regard.
During the pendency of the complaint, an application had been filed by the complainant asking the OP to suppy statement of account prior to September 2005. The OP had filed an affidavit stating that the statement of account cannot be retrieved from the bank record as it was very old record. This was against the banking Companies (Period of Preservation of Records ) Rules, 1985 which provides for a period of 8 years before the record can be weeded out. In the facts and circumstances of the case we are left with no alternative but to hold that the story put forth by the complainant is true. We hold that the OP was deficient in rendering services to the complainant that that it had not taken into account the payments from it time to time by its recovery agents. We , therefore, direct the OP as under:
- Zeroise the account of the complainant.
- Pay to the comlkjainatn a sum of Rs. 25,000/- as compensation for the pain and agony suffered by him, this includes the sum of Rs. 21,000/- which have been impoed on the bank during the pendency of this complaint and which has been remain unpaid.
- Pay to the complainant a sum of Rs. 5,000/- as cost of litigation.
The above amount shall be paid by the OP to the complainant within 30 days from the date of this order failing which OP shall be liable to pay interest on the entire awarded amount @ 10% per annum from the date of this order till the date of payment. If OP fail to comply with the order within 30 days, the complainant may approach this Forum u/s 27 of the Consumer Protection Act.
Copy of this order be made available to the parties free of cost as per law and Case File be consigned to Record Room.
Announced in open sitting of the Forum on.....................
