Presented by Smt. A.Behera, Member:-

Fact:-

The facts of the case is that, Complainant is a pension holder vide her Pension Book No.13241 S(F)/IS No.211/ID No.550 and having a saving account with Opposite Party No.2(two) for receipt of pension vide A/C No.11042696176 at State Bank of India, Main Branch, Bargarh. The Complainant was receiving her family pension as per sanction regularly since 1984 to Dt.05/07/2011. The pension increased to Rs. 150/-(Rupees one hundred fifty)only to  Rs. 5,285/-(Rupees five thousand two hundred eighty five)only till Dt. 01/07/2010. The Complainant was allowed an extra 20%(twenty percent) of the pension amount being above 80(eight) years old from Dt.01/08/2010 by the Treasury Officer, Bargarh from Dt.01/08/2010 to Dt.05/07/2011 the Complainant was receiving her increased family pension from Treasury Officer, Bargarh. But later as Government declared to deliver pension through State Bank of India, Rs. 12,684/-(Rupees twelve thousand six hundred eighty four)only were deposited to her Savings Bank Account as pension for two months on Dt.30/08/2011. But later since Dt.28/09/2011 Opposite Party No.1(one) started depositing the old amount  Rs. 5,285/-(Rupees five thousand two hundred eighty five)only till now, taking a plea to the accuracy of the date of Birth of the Complainant and even after repeated contacts and requests they paid no heed to the grievance of the Complainant not even after sending pleaders notice to the Opposite Parties.

Hearing of the petition was done on Dt.03/04/2013. All Parties were present and submitted their respective causes.

Complainant filed the following documents in support of her case and relied on the same.

1. Pension payment order(copy) from Government.

2. Record of pension disbursement (two sheets).

3. Copy of front page of Saving Bank Account No. 11042696176.

4. Copies of transaction pages of Pass Book of Saving Bank Account No.11042696176.

5. Pleaders Notice served to the Opposite Party by Advocate.

6. Registration slip and AD for the pleaders notice served upon the Opposite Parties.

7. Grievance letter to Branch Manager, State Bank of India, Main Branch, Bargarh Dt.12/10/2011.

Opposite Party No.1(one) has sent his version through post to the Forum vide No. CPPC/08/6336 Dt.12/01/2013 with enclosers like the pension payment order, disbursement sheets, and a computerized statement of payment of pension to the Complainant.

Opposite Party No.2(two) filed his version on Dt.18/03/2013 through his Advocate and shown his causes and therein he denied the charges or any deficiency on his part as they are only the disbursing agent and for no reason they have powers to with held any money for the account and requested to exonerate them from the charges of deficiency.

Heard the counsels at length, perused the case record and documents attached there in and following points were revealed about the case.

1. The Complainant is a pensioner and getting the pension from the Government after death of her husband.

    

2. Originally pension was disbursed by Treasury Officer, Bargarh. But, later as per Government decision to pay pension through State Bank of India, the Complainant is getting her pension through her Bank Account No. 11042696176.

    

3. The original pension payment order from the government shows the age/date of birth of the Complainant to be Dt.29/08/1930.

    

4. In their submission advocate for the Complainant submitted that, as the lady is more than 80(eighty) years old and have no School Leaving Certificate the date of birth was submitted to the government through approximate calculations and at that time the government accepted the same to be true and happily sanctioned the pension in her favour. But when the government decided to disburse the pension through State Bank of India and a pension disbursing authority is created as the Central Pension Processing Centre(CPPC) which is a part of State Bank of India created and manged by the same did not disburse the allowed extra 20%(twenty percent) of the pension for pensioners above 80(eighty) years of age, for no reasons. Even till the filing of the consumer dispute no step has been taken to resolve the issue of this old lady present Complainant, not even after receiving a pleaders notice for which Forum is seriously concerned about the quality of service of those agencies.

    

5. Opposite Party No.1(one) vide para No.7(seven) of their show-cause/version urged this Forum to direct the Treasury Officer to confirm the date of birth of the Complainant as they are the original pension sanctioning authority. So the Opposite Party No.1(one) will be able to pay the arrear and enhanced pension to the present Complainant.

    

6. A letter from Treasury Officer, Bargarh to Chief Manager, State Bank of India is attached to the case record which reveals that, Treasury Officer directed the Chief Manager to with draw their requests to the Forum to include Treasury Officer in the said dispute. This letter also cites a reference of government letter No.52/508 Dt.15/01/2012 which is not filed with the case record so the contents of the same are not known to Forum. However in this letter of Treasury Officer Dt.16/01/2013 to Chief Manager, State Bank of India it was said that the Treasury Officer is also the disabusing authority and paid pension to the Complainant vide the pension payment order of the Accountant General (A & G) Odisha, Bhubaneswar who accepted the date of Birth of the Complainant to be Dt.29/08/1930.

    

7. The Complainant is well a consumer of the Opposite Parties having Saving Account with them because when State Bank of India is referred it is referred as a whole organization and not for any Branch. The residence, payments, etc are within the territorial jurisdiction of the Forum as well as within the time limit.

    

8. The Complainant is an old lady and submits that she is more than 80(eighty) years old. But how to ascertain the age is a real question to decide. The Complainant did not appeared personally so the appearance and look is not known to the Forum to apply their due diligence. Again as the Complainant is an illiterate person and can provide no document regarding her proof of age and her submission that she gave an approximate date to the government which was very well accepted and if required. She can only file a self affidavit for this to be true. The Complainant also submitted that when government approved her date of birth at the time of sanction the CPPC (Opposite Party No.1(one)) has no reason dis-regard the same. If at all the Opposite Party No.1(one) has got any right to demand they could have directed the Complainant about probe if her date of birth any admissible method, which has not done by the Opposite Party No.1(one) till date but they have unauthorizedly not disbursed the allowed 20%(twenty percent) enhanced amount to the Complainant being more than 80(eighty) years old.

    

9. Another question is when the CPPC never questioned the date of birth when the person file is transferred vide any communication why they did not allow the 20%(twenty percent) extra as per government rules for pensioners. This seems unreasonable unjustified and callous attitude of Opposite Party No.1(one) towards pensioners.

    

10. The Complainant field their memo of agreement on dated 16/04/2013 which was attached to the case record in support of her case.

Under the facts and circumstances of this are the following is the order of the Forum.

1. Opposite Party No.2(two) is exonerated from charges of deficiency as nothing is proved against them, that they have received the enhanced amount and blocked the same.

    

2. Under the circumstances the sanction order by Accountant General (A & G) Govt. of Odisha is valid prof of the age of the pensioner and the date of birth mentioned in the PPO should be accepted for all requirements and the pensioner should not be harassed at this age further and forced to run here and there for collection of any such certificate.

    

3. The Opposite Party No.1(one) is liable of the discrepancy occured to the present Complainant. Hence the Opposite Party No.1(one) is directed to immediately settle the accounts of the Complainant and pay all the arrears as per the enhanced 20%(twenty percent) pension allowed to the Complainant from Dt.28/09/2011 till now along with an interest of 6%(six percent) per annum to the arrears and make necessary arrangement to disburse the enhanced rate of pension along with a compensation of Rs.2,000/-(Rupees two thousand)only to the Complainant for sufferings as mental agony caused by the Opposite Party No.1(one) with one month of this Order, failing which the awarded amount shall carry 18%(eighteen percent) interest per annum till the payment of amount.

    

   Order allowed and disposed off accordingly.

Typed to my dictation

and corrected by me.

         Sd/-                                                                                  Sd/-                                                                Sd/- 

        I agree,                                                                           I agree,                                                           I agree,         

(Smt. Anjali Behera)                                                      ( Sri Pradeep Kumar Dash)                       (Miss Rajlaxmi Pattnayak)

      M e m b e r.                                                                          M e m b e r.                                              P r e s i d e n t.