BEFORE THE DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM, AMRITSAR.

Consumer Complaint No. 705 of 2015

Date of Institution: 8.12.2015

Date of Decision: 11.07.2016  

Sucha Singh S/o Achhar  Singh R/O VPO Cheema Bath, Tehsil Baba Bakala Sahib, District Amritsar

Complainant

Versus

State Bank of Patiala through its Manager of Branch Office, VPO Baba Bakala Sahib, Tehsil Baba Bakala Sahib, District Amritsar

Opposite Party

Complaint under section 12 and 13 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 as amended upto date.

Present: For the Complainant: Sh.Vishal Thakur,Advocate

              For Opposite Party   : Sh.B.S.Bedi,Advocate

Coram

Sh.S.S.Panesar, President

Ms.Kulwant Kaur Bajwa, Member

Mr.Anoop Sharma, Member  

Order dictated by:

Sh.S.S. Panesar, President.

1.       Sucha Singh has brought the instant complaint under section 12 & 13 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 on the allegations that  mother of the complainant was having a saving account No. 12811 with opposite party and she was receiving a pension on account of widow of freedom fighter Achhar  Singh which was being paid by the Government. Mother of the complainant died in the year 2001  and  the amount which was being credited in her account  was favour to her legal heir on the basis of the succession certificate. The complainant applied for a succession certificate for the amount lying  in the account of his mother  and the civil court vide its order  and judgement dated 24.8.2011 was pleased to pass an order for release of the amount lying in the account of Smt. Ishar Kaur to the complainant. The bank opened an FDR on 24.7.2014 in the name of complainant with account No. 65201701415 of Rs. 2,15,000/- of the amount lying with the opposite party. To the utter surprise of the complainant, he received letter dated 19.6.2015 to the effect that his FDR has been cancelled and the amount has been sent back to the pension department without any intimation , notice and without any opportunity of being heard to the complainant. The said act of opposite party of cancelling the  FDR without giving any opportunity of being heard to the complainant  amount to grave negligence and unfair trade practice. The cancellation of the FDR  of the complainant by the opposite party is false and frivolus having no means in the eye of law and the same is liable to be quashed in the interest of justice, equity and fair play.  Hence, necessity to file the present complaint. The complainant has prayed for following reliefs vide instant complaint:-

(a)     The impugned cancellation of FDR vide letter dated 19.6.2015 be quashed and opposite party be directed to pay the actual amount of FDR having account No. 65201701415 alongwith interest ;

(b)     To pay Rs. 10000/- for harassment and mental agony and Rs. 5000/- for cost of complaint.

Hence, this complaint.

2.       Upon notice, opposite party appeared and contested the complaint by filing written statement taking certain preliminary objections therein inter alia that   complaint of the complainant is not legally maintainable under the law as well as on facts ; that the complainant has concealed the material facts from this Forum and has not come to the Forum with clean hands, therefore, he is not entitled for any relief from this  Forum ; that replying opposite party is a bank which is a care taker of the government/public money and all safeguards have to be adopted/complied with as per law to safeguard the government/public money before release of funds ; that complainant has  got no cause of action to file  the present complaint against the replying opposite party ; that the present complaint is barred under the law and the complainant is estopped by his own act and conduct from filing the present complaint ; that the pension is entitlement of the pensioner as per law, till his/her date of death only. On merits,it is stated that as per law , the pension is entitlement of the pensioners till the date of his/her date of death. It is further submitted that  as far as succession certificate is concerned, the same is a matter of record and same may be perused from the record itself. In routine manner, amount of pension was sent by the government and same was credited to the account of pensioner though she actually died in the year 2001 itself. However, as per orders of the court, the amount lying deposited in the account of deceased Ishar Kaur was credited to the account of the complainant and FDR of Rs. 2,15,000/- was issued  in the name of the complainant . However, later on a complaint was moved by brothers of the complainant and only after that it was revealed that Ishar Kaur  had died on 9.11.2001 and as such she was entitled to pension uptil that date only and she was not entitled to any further pension. But further amount of pension was credited to her account after her death as the factum was not intimated to the Government and in routine manner the amount of pension was used to be credited to her account ,which has been refunded back to the Government. On coming to know about the said facts, the bank rightly put hold on the FDR amount and excess amount of pension received from the pension department to Ishar Kaur was refunded back to the department as per rules after adopting/complying all the safeguards . At the time of death of Smt.Ishar Kaur on 9.11.2001 only amount of Rs. 4700/67 paise plus interest was lying and in credit thus after cancelling the FDR the excess amount credited to the account of Ishar Kaur was refunded back to the pension department and Rs.4700.67 paise plus interest from 9.11.2001 was credited to the account of the complainant and he was informed accordingly vide letter dated 19.6.2015. There is absolutely no act of negligence or unfair trade practice  on the part of the opposite party. The complaint is false, frivolous and legally not maintainable against the opposite party bank and a prayer for dismissal of the complaint with cost was made.

3.       In his bid to prove the case complainant tendered into evidence his duly sworn affidavit Ex.C-1, copy of order dated 24.8.2011  of the court of Sh.Hira Singh Gill,Addl.Civil Judge, Baba Bakala Ex.C-2, copy of FDR Ex.C-3, letter dated 19.6.2015 Ex.C-4 and closed his evidence.

4.       To rebut the aforesaid evidence Sh.B.S.Bedi,Adv.counsel for opposite party tendered affidavit of Sh.Naresh Kumar, branch manager Ex.OP1, copy of form No. 61 Ex.OP2, copy of succession certificate Ex.OP3, copy of affidavit of complainant Ex.OP4, copy of legal notice of  Adv.Lakhwinder Singh Ex.OP5 , copy of letter dated 19.6.2015 Ex.OP6, copy of delivery report of the bank Ex.OP7, affidavit of Sh.Naresh Kumar Branch manager Ex.OP8, copy of page of treasury register Ex.OP9, copy of certificate of Bank ex.OP10, copy of statement of account Ex.OP11 and closed the evidence on behalf of opposite party.

5.       We have heard  the ld.counsel for the parties and have carefully gone through the record on the file.

6.       From the appreciation of the evidence on record it becomes evident that account No. 12811 was in the name of Ishar Kaur now deceased, who was a pensioner of the State Govt . There is no denying the fact that Ishar Kaur died on 9.11.2001 and a sum Rs. 4700.67 paise  was lying deposited in her account. A perusal of copy of succession certificate Ex.OP3 adduced on record shows that Sucha Singh complainant had filed a succession application in the Court of Sh.Hira Singh Gill, Addl. Civil Judge, Sr. Division, Baba Bakala Distt. Amritsar for grant of succession certificate regarding the goods of Ishar Kaur, now deceased, and the amount lying deposited in State Bank of Patiala , Baba Bakala Distt. Amritsar shown therein was  to the tune of Rs. 4700.67 paise only. Since, the factum of death of Smt.Ishar Kaur was not reported to the concerned authorities of the State Govt. therefore,  pension drawn by Smt.Ishar Kaur went on crediting in her account with State Bank of Patiala branch Baba Bakala,District Amritsar. It was the duty of the complainant and other legal heirs of Smt.Ishar Kaur to have reported the matter to the concerned authorities for stopping the pension of Smt.Ishar Kaur , immediately after her death on 9.11.2001. But, however, no needful was done by them for the reasons best known to them. The bank authorities also did not notice that at the time of death of Ishar Kaur a sum of Rs. 4700.67 paise was only lying  deposited and the facts so mentioned in the succession certificate also did not come to their notice. The bank authorities inadvertently prepared FDR for a sum of Rs.  2,15,000/- in the name of the complainant on receipt of the copy of the succession certificate in favour of the complainant. Later on when the bank authorities came to know  about the death of Smt.Ishar Kaur, they issued notice to the complainant intimating that the FDR in question has been prepared inadvertently and the amount of the FDR in dispute to the tune of Rs. 2,15,544/- does not belong to the complainant  entirety. A sum of Rs. 20,282/- i.e. amount of Rs. 4700.67 with interest w.e.f. 9.11.2001 till date was credited in the account of the complainant while the remaining amount of Rs.57762/- paid on account of interest has been retained by the bank authorities while an amount of Rs. 1,37,500/- was remitted back to Pension department. The grouse of the complainant has been that no prior notice has been issued to the complainant before refunding the amount back to the Government or retaining of amount of Rs. 57,762/- by the bank authorities . As a matter of fact complainant should have been heard before cancelling the FDR in dispute and as such the action of the opposite party was unlawful and was liable to be set-aside. But, however, contention of the complainant does not hold any water because the complainant has not come to the Forum with clean hands nor he intimated the factum of death of Ishar Kaur either to bank authorities or the Pension department. It is settled law that a person , who seeks equity must do equity and the person approaching the court with  soiled hands, is not entitled to any relief from the Court. Since it was a matter concerning the exchequer of the State and the very fact that the complainant himself had obtained succession certificate to the tune of Rs. 4700.67 paise only regarding the goods of Smt.Ishar Kaur lying deposited in State Bank of Patiala, Baba Bakala branch, Amritsar, therefore, the complainant had no right or interest in the account of pension after 9.11.2001 i.e. after the death of Smt.Ishar Kaur. The complaint is frivolous and false and seems to have been filed simply to harass the opposite party.

7.       Consequently, instant complaint fails and the same is ordered to be dismissed accordingly. Case could not be disposed of within the stipulated period due to heavy pendency of the cases in this Forum. Copies of the orders be furnished to the parties free of costs. File is ordered to be consigned to the record room.

Announced in Open Forum

Dated : 11.7.2016

/R/