O R D E R
(By Sri A. Radha Krishna, President on behalf of the Bench)
1 The petitioner seeks compensation of Rs. 1,00,000/- for the deficiency of service on the part of respondent in not honouring the cheque issued by him.
2 The allegations in the complaint in brief are that he is having savings bank account with the opposite party and issued an account payee cheque on 17.03.2010 in favour of LIC of India, Kakinada for a sum of Rs. 7,842/- towards payment of premium. The said cheque was sent for collection by the LIC through Corporation Bank on 20.03.2010. On the same day he deposited an amount of Rs. 8,000/- into his account which was creditto. There was a balance of Rs. 9,593 to his credit with the above deposit. But the respondent refused to honour the cheque on the ground of not having sufficient funds. The respondent acted negligently and refused to honour the account payee cheque date 13.03.2011 was issued for payment towards LIC premium for new policies and it was not honoured on the ground of signature differ on cheuqe. Even on the earlier occasion also there was negligent part on the respondent with regard to another transaction. During the intervening period they levied penality Rs.26/- on the ground he was maintaining the balance below the minimum limit. According to him the respondent is taking vengine against him and due to the deficiency of service he suffered loss of income tax due to lapse of LIC policy. He also issued notice to the respondent. Though received they did not respond.
3 The respondent resisted the claim of the complainant by fling counter denying the material allegations attributed against them and further according to them, the cheque came upon for clearance at 11.00AM by the time there were no sufficient funds to the credit of the complainant account to honour the cheque. Later on the even date Rs. 8000/- was remitted to the credit of complainant account and the same was authorized when it was 11.51 AM and that is the reason why he cheque was dishonoured. Apart from that as per the guidelines of RBI balance is to be maintained by the customer on the preceding day of the cheque issue date. Thus in the circumstances according to them there was no deficiency of service on their part. Thus they sought dismissal of the complaint.
4 Now the points for determination are:
1. Whether there is any deficiency of service on the part of the respondent bank for dishonouring the cheque as complained by the complaint?
2. If so, whether the complainant is not entitled for compensation as sought by him?
5 Point No.1: The complainant filed his proof affidavit and got marked Exs. A1 to A8 which are bank pass book in the name of complainant, two bounced cheques, deposit receipt for Rs.8,000/-, written memo issued by the respondent, office copy of lawyer’s notice, postal receipt and acknowledgment. The complainant also filed chief affidavit Narapureddy PRabhavathi, LIC Agent, PW2. As against this evidence the respondent bank filed proof affidavit of its Assistant Manager who reiterated allegations in the counter and they exhibited Ex.B1 the statement of the accounts of the complainant.
6. It is an admitted fact the complainant is maintaining savings bank account with the respondent bank. It is also not in dispute that the complainant issued two cheques towards payment of premium for LIC policies which were dishonoured on the ground of signatures differs and also for want of funds. Here it may be pointed out that it is the prerogative of the bank to return the cheques when they find any difference in the signature available on the cheque and specimen signatures given to them at the time of opening the account. When coming to the dishonor of the cheque for want of sufficient funds, the complainant himself admits when the cheque was presented on 20.03.2010 on the same day he deposited Rs. 8,000/- into his account. So what is manifestis it is only when the cehque was presented on 20.03.2010 the complainant deposited amount to honour the cheque. In this context the reason is assigned by the respondent for dishonouring the cheque is that at the time when the cheque came upon for clearance no sufficient funds were available in the account of the complainant. It is only subsequent to the dishonor of the cheque on the same day his amount was credited with Rs. 8,000/- deposited by him.
7 Here it is also the version of the respondent as per the guidelines of RBI the customer must maintain sufficient balance previous day of the date of issuance of cheque. When as per the guidelines of RBI when there were no sufficient funds on the earlier day we can not find fault with the respondent bank for dishnouring the cheque. The complainant must be vigilant in maintaining the balance amount while issuing cheques to 3rd parties. Hence under these circumstances we can not attribute any malafidies against the respondent bank for not honouring the cheque issued by the complainant on the ground of insufficient funds. Hence this point is answered against the complainant in favour of the respondent.
8 Point No.2: In view of the finding rendered under point No.1 the complainant is not entitled any amount.
9 In the result, the complaint is dismissed in the circumstances without costs.
Dictation taken by the Steno, transcribed by her, corrected and pronounced by us, in open Forum, this the 20th day of January, 2015
Sd/- xxxx Sd/- xxxxxxx
MEMBER PRESIDENT
APPENDIX OF EVIDENCE
WITNESSES EXAMINED
For complainant :
PW1: Sri Chappidi Swaminadha Rao
PW2: Smt. Narapureddy Prabhavathi, Agent of LIC of India, Kakinada
For opposite party :
RW1: Sri L. Yerrareddy, Assistant Manager, Andhra Bank, Kakinada
DOCUMENTS MARKED
For complainant:-
Ex. A1 Bank pass book in the name of the complainant [Photostat copy]
Ex.A2 17.03.2010 Dishonoured cheque [original]
Ex.A3 30.03.2011 Dishonoured cheque [original]
Ex.A4 20.03.2010 Deposit receipt [Original]
Ex.A5 20.04.2011 Intimation of dishnoured cheque [original]
Ex.A6 10.10.2011 Office copy of notice issued by the complainant to the opposite party [original]
Ex.A7 Postal receipt [original]
Ex.A8 Acknowledgment [original]
For opposite party:
Ex.B1 Statement of Accounts issued by the opposite party [original]
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MEMBER PRESIDENT
