Haryana

Panchkula

CC/32/2021

SMT .PRIYANKA WALIA. - Complainant(s)

Versus

STATE BANK OF INDIA. - Opp.Party(s)

JYOTI RANI.

28 Nov 2024

ORDER

BEFORE THE DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION,  PANCHKULA

 

                                                       

Consumer Complaint No	:	32 of 2021
Date of Institution	:	21.01.2021
Date of Decision	:	28.11.2024

 

 

1.     Smt. Priynaka Walia, wife of Late Shri Hitesh Walia

2.     Smt. Kusham, mother of Late Shri Hitesh Walia

3.     Master Rehansh Walia(minor), son of Late Shri Hitesh Walia       through his natural mother

 

        Both residents of House No.1283/B-2, Vishwakarma Colony,      Pinjore, Tehsil Kalka, District Panchkula.

 

                                                                ….Complainants

 

Versus

1.     State Bank of India, Near Bus Stand, Pinjore, Tehsil Kalka,        District         Panchkula through its Branch Manager.

2.     State Bank of India Card Section, SCO No.2915-16, Sector-22, Chandigarh.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             ..….Opposite Parties

COMPLAINT UNDER SECTION 35 OF THE CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT, 2019.

 

 

Before:              Sh.Satpal, President.

Dr.Sushma Garg, Member

Dr.Suman Singh, Member

 

 

For the Parties:   Sh.Sunidh Kashyap, Advocate, for the complainants.

                        Sh.Yogesh Mohan, Advocate, for OP No.1.

                        Defence of OP No.2 struck off vide order dated                                        04.10.2022.

                       

ORDER

 

(Satpal, President)

1.              The brief facts, as alleged in the present complaint, are that Sh.Hitesh Walia, husband of the complainant no.1, was having bank account no.38178904637with opposite party no.1(hereinafter referred to as OP no.1) and operating the same; said Hitesh Walia was the owner of the car having registration no.HR-49E-1100, and was also having a valid driving license; Said Hitesh Walia had availed the facility of SBI Platinum VISA debit/credit card bearing no. 42073991-0920-6978 from the OPs(hereinafter referred to as OPs) and the same was being used by him from time to time. It is averred that the said Hitesh Walia met with an accident during the intervening night of 12/13/08.2020 in the jurisdiction of Police Station Sohna(Punjab), while he was coming from Mohali to Panchkula in the night hours and died in the car itself due to accident. A DD No.8 dated 13.08.2020 was entered by Police Authorities Mohali. The postmortem of the deceased was conducted at Civil Hospital, Mohali vide postmortem report no. M403000102000140/CKL/PMR/127/2020. It is stated that, as per policy of State Bank of India i.e. OPs, the  holder of a SBI Platinum VISA debit/credit card are insured for a sum of Rs.5,00,000/- and a sum of Rs.50,000/- qua expenses incurred in the last rites etc. It is stated that the complainants, after the death of said Hitesh Walia, approached the OPs and made written representation on 27.10.2020 along with necessary documents etc. to seek the release of the insured sum as per their policy but till date, no reply was received from the OPs. Ultimately, a legal notice was issued to OPs through their counsel on 02.12.2020 but to no avail. Due to the act and conduct of the OPs, the complainant has suffered mental agony, physical harassment and financial loss; hence, the present complaint.

2.             Upon notice, the OP No.1 appeared through counsel and filed the written statement, wherein certain preliminary objections were taken disputing the maintainability of the complaint. Vide preliminary objections, it is submitted that the complainants are not consumers of OP No.1 as the SBI Platinum VISA debit/credit card was not issued by it. It is submitted that the SBI SCO No.2915-16, Sector-22, Chandigarh was the issuing authority of the Platinum debit/card card, who deals in the matters qua the issuance of credit cards to the customers. It is submitted that the SBI has nothing to do with the alleged claim of the complainants. It is submitted that the OP No.1, after receiving the claim from the complainants, had referred the said claim to the SBI SCO No.-2915-16, Sector-22, Chandigarh(OP No.2) vide letter dated 19.02.2021 and the same was received by SBI Card SCO No.2915-16, Sector-22, Chandigarh(OP No.2) on 22.02.2021; thus, the name of the OP No.1 is liable to be deleted from the arrays of the Ops. The complaint is not maintainable on account of non-joinder of necessary parties. The complainants are estopped by their own act and conduct by filing the present complaint.

                On merits, the pleas and assertions made in the preliminary objections have been reiterated and it has been prayed that there is no deficiency in service on the part of the OP No.1; as such, the present complaint is liable to be dismissed.

                After the filing of written statement by OP No.1 impleadment of SBI SCO No.2915-16, Sector-22, Chandigarh as prayed for the complainants, was allowed by the Commission as OP No.2 vide order dated 08.08.2022 and accordingly, notice was issued to the same i.e. OP No.2 but written statement was not filed within the statutory period and accordingly, its defence was ordered to be struck off vide order dated 04.10.2022.

3.             To prove the case, the learned counsel for the complainants has tendered affidavit as Annexure C-A along with documents Annexure C-1 to C-14 in evidence and closed the evidence by making a separate statement. On the other hand, the ld. counsel for the OP No.1 has tendered affidavit Annexure R-A along with documents Annexure R-1 and closed the evidence.

                During arguments, the learned counsel for the complainants has placed on record certain documents to show that a sum of Rs.5,00,000/- is payable under platinum master card(visa) in case of accidental insurance. The said documents are taken on record as Mark ‘A’ collectively for adjudication of the complaint in a proper and fair manner.  

4.             We have heard the learned counsels for the complainant as well as OP No.1 and gone through the entire record available on file, carefully and minutely.

5.             During arguments, the learned counsel for the complainants has reiterated the averments as made in the complaint as also in the affidavit(Annexure C-A) and contended that Sh. Hitesh Walia(now deceased), husband of the complainant no.1, was issued the State SBI Platinum VISA debit/credit card bearing no. 420739910920-6978 (Annexure C-4) by the OPs vide account no. 38178904637. It was argued that the said Hitesh Walia died in road accident during the intervening night of 12/13/08/2020. It was further argued that the complainant’s being the LRs of the deceased Sh.Hitesh Walia, who was the holder of SBI Platinum VISA debit/credit card (Annexure C-4), approached the OP No.1 and sent the representation on 26.10.2020 (Annexure C-10) followed by legal notice(Annexure C-12) to seek the payment of the assured sum as per said SBI Platinum VISA debit/ credit card but no heed was paid to their request and thus, the complaint is liable to be accepted by granting the relief as prayed for in the complaint.

6.             The OP No.1 has, primarily, contested the complaint on the ground that it was not the issuing authority of the SBI Platinum VISA debit/credit card(Annexure C-4) to Sh.Hitesh Walia(now deceased) and thus, no cause of action has accrued in favour of the complainants against it. The learned counsel on behalf of OP No.1, during arguments, reiterated the averments as contained in the written statement an also in the affidavit(Annexure R-A) and contended that the SBI Platinum VISA debit/credit card was issued by the OP No.2 i.e. State Bank of India, SCO No.2915-16, Sector-22, Chandigarh and thus, the alleged claim qua the death of Sh. Hitesh Walia(now deceased) as lodged by the complainants, on the basis of said SBI Platinum debit/credit card, has no concern with OP No.1. It is further argued that the complaint as received from the complainants/family members of Hitesh Walia(now deceased) by OP No.1 was sent to OP No.2 vide letter dated 29.02.2021 (Annexure R-1) for taking necessary action  in the matter and thus, the complaint is liable to be dismissed against the OP No.1, being frivolous, baseless and meritless.

7.             On the other hand, the OP No.2 has failed to file the written statement/reply, within the stipulated period and resultantly, its defence was struck off vide our order dated 04.10.2022 and thus, there is no rebuttal to the contentions of the complainant

8.             After hearing the learned counsel for the parties and perusing the entire record available on the file, minutely and thoroughly, it is found that Sh.Hitesh Walia(now deceased) was holding a SBI Platinum VISA debit/credit card(Annexure C-4) and as per postmortem report no. M403000102000140/CKL/PMR/127/2020 (Annexure C-7), he was reported to have died in road accident. The said postmortem report(Annexure C-7) reveals that the injuries sustained by said Hitesh Walia in the accident were anti-mortem in nature which were sufficient to cause death in the ordinary course of nature.

9.             We have come across the representation dated 26.10.2020 (Annexure C-10), followed by the legal notice dated 02.12.2020 (Annexure C-12), as sent by the complainants to OP No.1, seeking the release of the insured sum as admissible vide SBI Platinum VISA debit/credit card No. 42073991-0920-6978(Annexure C-4). The OP no.1 had sent the said representation dated 26.10.2020(Annexure C-10) of the complainants to OP No.2 vide letter dated 19.02.2021 (Annexure R-1) but nothing has been heard, thereafter, either from the OP No.1 or from the OP No.2. Evidently, the matter qua the release of insured sum, as admissible vide SBI Platinum VISA debit/ credit card no.42073991-0920-6978(Annexure C4), was not pursued after 19.02.2021 by OP No.1 with the OP No.2. The OP No.2 has not filed its written statement controverting and rebutting the contentions and assertions of the complainants as made in the complaint and accordingly, its defence was ordered to  be struck off vide order dated 04.10.2022 and thus, the assertions and contentions against it go unrebutted and uncontroverted.

10.            The plea taken by the OP No.1 that it was not the issuing authority of the SBI Platinum VISA debit/credit card no. 42073991-0920-6978(Annexure C-4) to Sh.Hitesh Walia(now deceased) & thus, it has no concern with the claim as lodged by the complainants, is not acceptable because the said SBI Platinum VISA debit/credit card was issued to Sh.Hitesh Walia(now deceased) by virtue of his having account no.38178904637 with the OP No.1(SBI Bank). Therefore, the OP No.1 as well as OP No.2 are held deficient, for which, they are liable to compensate the complainants.

11.            In relief, the complainants have claimed the release of payment of sum of Rs.5,00,000/- on account of death of Sh. Hitesh Walia along with an amount of Rs.50,000/- as expenses incurred on last rites. Further, the compensation amounting to Rs.2,00,000/- and Rs.50,000/- have been claimed on account of physical harassment and mental agony and litigation charges respectively. Further a sum of Rs.5,000/- has also been claimed as cost.

12.            The complainants qua their prayer for the payment of Rs.5,00,000/- has relied upon the printout Annexure C-9 as well as Mark ‘A’(collectively). As per Annexure C-9 and Mark ‘A’(collectively), a sum of Rs.5,00,000/-(Rs.Five Lakhs only) is payable in case of accidental insurance under the Platinum Master Card(Visa). Since the deceased(Sh. Hitesh Walia) was holder of SBI Platinum VISA debit/ credit card no.42073991-0920-6978(Annexure C-4), his LRs are entitled to the payment of sum of Rs.5,00,000/-(Rs. Five Lakhs only).  

13.            The deceased(Sh. Hitesh Walia) who was  holder of SBI holder of SBI Platinum VISA debit/ credit card no.42073991-0920-6978 (Annexure C-4) has left the following LRs:-

i.      Smt. Priyanka Walia                  Widow of Sh. Hitesh Walia(deceased)

ii.       Smt. Kusum Walia                              mother of the deceased

iii.      Rehansh Walia                         minor son of deceased

 

14.            In the light of discussion made above the present complaint is partly allowed in the following manners:-

1. The OP No.2 is directed to release the payment of Rs.5,00,000/- along with interest @9%p.a.(simple interest) to the LRs of complainant w.e.f. 26.10.2020 i.e. the date when the claim was lodged vide Annexure C-10 till its actual realization, in equal shares. However, the 1/3^rd share of the minor son (Master Rehansh Walia) of deceased(Sh. Hitesh Walia) along with interest @9% p.a (simple interest) is to be deposited in a fixed deposit scheme having higher rate of interest, with auto renewal facility, in any bank, which could be got released by the minor son on attainting of his age of maturity.

 

2. The OPs No.1 & 2 are directed to deliver the original copy of FDR as directed above to the mother of the minor son of deceased(Sh.Hitesh Walia)  & place the copy of the same along with acknowledgment qua receipt of the FDR by the mother of the minor son before  the Commission.
3.    The OPs No.1 & 2 are further directed to pay an amount of Rs.10,000/-(Rs.5,000/-each) to the complainant on account of mental agony and harassment.
4. The OPs no.1 & 2 are further directed to pay an amount of Rs.5,500/-to the complainants on account litigation charges.

 

 15.           The OPs No.1 & 2 shall comply with the order within a period of 45 days from the date of communication of copy of this order failing which the complainants shall be at liberty to approach this Commission for initiation of proceedings under Section 71/72 of CP Act, against the OPs No.1 & 2. A copy of this order shall be forwarded, free of cost, to the parties to the complaint and file be consigned to record room after due compliance.

Announced:28.11.2024

 

        Dr. Suman Singh                   Dr.Sushma Garg                Satpal

                        Member                     Member                     President

 

Note: Each and every page of this order has been duly signed by me.

 

   Satpal

 President