Punjab

Ludhiana

CC/19/537

Punjab Aided College Retired Employee Assoication (Regd.) - Complainant(s)

Versus

State Bank of India - Opp.Party(s)

Rustam Pal Singh Adv.

13 Oct 2022

ORDER

DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION, LUDHIANA.

                                                Complaint No:357 dated 20.11.2019                                         

                Date of decision: 13.10.2022.

Punjab Aided Colleges Retired Employees Association (Registered), 35, Jiwan Preet Nagar, Ferozepur Road, Ludhaina through its General Secretary Shri Rajinder Singh Pawan.                                                                                                                                                                    ..…Complainant

 

State Bank of India, Ferozepur Road, Aggar Nagar, through its Manager.                                                                                                …..Opposite party

 

          Complaint under section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act.

QUORUM:

SH. K.K. KAREER, PRESIDENT

SH. JASWINDER SINGH, MEMBER

 

COUNSEL FOR THE PARTIES:

For complainant            :         Sh.Rustampal Singh, Advocate

For OP                           :         Sh.Raju Chopra, Advocate

 

ORDER

PER K.K. KAREER, PRESIDENT

1.                In brief, the case of the complainant is that the complainant is a society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 having its registered office at 35, Jiwan Preet Nagar, Ferozepur Road, Ludhiana. The complainant society vide resolution dated 12.08.2019 has authorized its General Secretary Shri Rajinder Singh Pawan to file the present complaint on behalf of the society.

2.                It is further alleged that the complainant society has been constituted by the Retired Employees of Aided Colleges in Punjab & Chandigarh to get the grievances of its members redressed while getting retirement benefits and to file court cases, if so required. As per the rules and regulations of the complainant society, the members of the society used to contribute the subscription and funds to meet the expenses. It is further alleged that the complainant society opened a saving bank account No.65226209899 on 25.02.2015 with State Bank of Patiala, Block-A, Aggar Nagar, Ludhiana which has since merged in State Bank of India i.e. OP. Thus, the complainant is a consumer of the OP who has been paying the interest on the amount deposited in its account regularly from 30.06.2015 to 25.09.2019. However, on 19.01.2018 the OP arbitrarily and without any explanation of prior notice reversed the interest amounting to Rs.70,616/-. On coming to know about this fact, the complainant society requesting the OP vide its letter No.2018/3/117 dated 29.03.2018 to credit back the interest amount of Rs.70,616/- to the account of the complainant. However, OP vide reply dated 26.04.2018 stated that the complainant association was not authorized to open a saving bank account and it can open only a current account. Thereafter, the complainant vide registered letter No.2018/5/130 dated 27.05.2018 requested the OP to credit the interest amount of Rs.70,616/- into the account of the complainant and also sent reminder dated 27.12.2018 but the OP did not response to the said letter. Another reminder dated 07.08.2019 was also sent to the OP in this regard. In response to which, OP sent reply dated 12.08.2019 reiterating that the complainant was not authorized to open a saving bank account. A copy of circular dated 04.04.2014 was also supplied by the OP to the complainant which shows that the complainant did not suffer from any ineligibility to open a saving account with the OP. However despite that OP refused to credit back the interest amount of Rs.70,616/- into the account of the complainant society. This amounts to deficiency of service on the part of the OP bank. In the end, it has been requested that the OP be directed to credit the amount of Rs.70,616/- along with interest from 19.01.2018 till the actual date of credit and be also made to pay compensation of Rs.1 lac and Rs.11,000/- on account of litigation expenses.

3.                The complaint has been resisted by the OP. In the written statement filed on behalf of OP, it has been, inter alia, pleaded that the complaint is nothing but an abuse of process of law. There has been no deficiency of service on the part of the OP and therefore, the complaint is not maintainable. According to the OP, the complainant was maintaining a saving bank account with the State Bank of Patiala which later on merged with the OP bank. As per the rules of the OP bank, unregistered society cannot open saving account and if unregistered society is interested in opening an account, it can open only a current account for which all the terms and conditions for current account will be applicable. However, the account of the complainant society was inadvertently treated a saving account whereas it should have been a current account and, therefore, interest was wrongly credited into the account of the complainant society. OP has further pleaded that when this fact came to its knowledge, the entry of interest was reversed which has been done legally as per the rules and regulations of the bank. The rest of the averments made in the complaint have been denied as wrong and a prayer for dismissal of the complaint has also been made.

4.                 In evidence, complainant submitted his affidavit Ex.CA along with documents Ex.C1 to Ex.C10 and closed the evidence.

5.                On the other hand, OP submitted affidavit Ex.RA of Ms.Rita Sood, Branch Manager of OP along with documents Ex.R1 and closed the evidence.

6.                We have heard the arguments advanced by the counsel for the parties and have also gone through records.

7.                It has been pointed out by the counsel for the OP bank that vide e-circular Ex.R1 dated 04.04.2014 issued by the Corporate Office of OP bank, opening of saving bank account in the name of Government Departments/Bodies depending upon Budgetary Allocations for performance of their functions/Municipal Corporations or Municipal Committees/Panchayat Samitis/State Housing Boards/Water and Sewerage/Drainage Boards/State Text Book Publishing Corporations/Societies/Metropolitan Development Authority/State/District Level Housing Co-operative Societies etc,, is prohibited. The aforesaid circular further provides that the prohibitions will not apply to societies registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 or any other corresponding law in force in a State or a Union Territory except societies registered under the State Co-operative Societies Acts.

8.                From the above circular, it is evident that unregistered societies are not entitled to open a saving bank account while societies registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 are exempted and can open a saving account. Now it has to been seen whether or not the complainant society is registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860. In this regard, the complainant has placed on record certificate Ex.C1 which shows that the complainant society was registered only on 10^th December 2018. It further proves that prior to 10.12.2018, the complainant society was not registered and therefore, it was not entitled to open a saving bank account with the OP bank. The interest amount of Rs.70,616/- which was withdrawn on 19.01.2018 pertains to the period when the complainant society was not registered and was not eligible to open a saving bank account. Therefore, the OP has rightly treated the saving bank account as a current account in which no interest was payable. That being so, the withdrawal of Rs.70,616/-, which was earlier inadvertently credited on account of interest on the amount lying in the account, cannot be said to be a deficiency of service or unfair trade practice on the part of the OP bank.

9.                As a result of above discussion, the complaint fails and the same is hereby dismissed with no order as to costs. However, it is worthwhile to observe that since the complainant society has been registered w.e.f.10.12.2018, the usual interest on the saving bank account from that date onwards would be paid/credited by the OP bank. Copies of order be supplied to parties free of costs as per rules. File be indexed and consigned to record room.         

10.              Due to rush of work and spread of COVID-19, the case could not be decided within statutory period.

 

                             (Jaswinder Singh)                            (K.K. Kareer)

                    Member                                           President

 

Announced in Open Commission.

Dated:13.10.2022.

Gurpreet Sharma