This case has arisen out of an application U/s 35 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.
The case of the petitioner is that She has deposited Rs.2,01,100/- in TD A/c No:364171 on 31.10.2015 & Rs.4,50,000/- in TD A/c No:264935 on 19.12.2015 with O.P.No:2 through O.P.No:1. That on hearing bad rumour of Sub Post Master regarding misappropriation of Govt. money in August 2019 petitioner went to the office of O.P.No:1 & 2 to search out her accounts and she was verbally told that she has no such TD accounts. Immediately she informed in writing to O.P.No:2 & I.C, Kaliyaganj P.S on 10.08.2019. Thereafter on 21.08.2019 through Advocate Palash Ranjan Das she sent an application under R.T.I Act.
That on 01.10.2019 office of O.P.No:2 received two passbooks from the petitioner for claim settlement & return the same after few months. On 09.10.2019 O.P.No:3 sent a reply stating that “recently some misappropriation of Govt. money has been detected at Faridpur BO & Investigation is under process so as per Section 8(1) (h) of R.T.I Act, 2005 the information cannot be supplied.” Again she went to the office of O.P.No:1&2 for enquiry on 08.05.2020 & O.P.No:1 again received two passbooks & assured her to give entire money. Due to Covid-19 pandemic situation petitioner did not enquire further at the office of the O.P.No:1&2 and also did not file the complaint.
That in June 2021 again she went to the office of O.P.No:1&2 for information but they did not pay any heed which amounts to deficiency in service, clear malpractices and unfair practices on the part of O.Ps. She is praying for return back the total amount Rs.6,51,100/-, compensation Rs.50,000/- & litigation cost of Rs.10,000/-.
O.Ps contested the case by filing W.V stating that Faridpur Branch Post Office(referred to as Faridpur BO hereinafter) is under Kaliyaganj Post Office (referred to as Kaliyaganj SO hereinafter), on receipt of a complaint from petitioner, and enquiry is made & it came out that there are several accounts which are not bonafide & are being cooked i.e by the Branch Post Master, Faridpur BO or by the petitioner & that no such account standing with the TD A/c No:364171 and on scrutiny of the passbook it reveals that A/c No:264171 was tampered and altered to appear as A/c No:364171 & that the A/c No:264171 is actually stands in the name of Bhabesh Chandra Shil & it is a regular savings account (with balance of Rs.100/-) and it is not TD account, opened on 31.01.2014 & the passbook is tampered in several places to appear it like a TD account & all the dates, figures and name of account holder are tampered in the passbook.
That on enquiry it is found that A/c No:264935 is actually stands in the name of Mira Das & it is a regular savings account (with balance of Rs.100/-), not a TD account opened on 04.12.2014. The passbook is tampered in several places to appear it like a TD account & all the dates, figures and name of account holder are tampered in the said passbook.
That none of the TD account are thus bonafide but created with the intent of deception and there are no bonafide TD accounts standing in the name of Bhato Roy Barman at Faridpur BO. That Sri Debasish Sarkar, Branch Post Master of Faridpur BO has absconded since detection of irregularities in accounts at Faridpur BO on that period, Department of Post Office has lodged F.I.R against him & case is started against him and is subjudice at Raiganj Court. That regarding payment of amounts clear provision is there in the Department that the claimant needs to submit a Claim form along with all other relevant documents but petitioner never submits claim form through proper channel to resolve her issue instead file this false case. There was no deficiency in service or negligence on the part of O.Ps and the claim of petitioner is fictitious and frivolous & liable to be dismissed.
Points for consideration is:-
- Whether there was any deficiency in service, mal practice/unfair practice on the part of the O.Ps which gives rise cause of action to file the complaint and the petitioner is entitled to get the claim?
D e c i s i o n w i t h r e a s o n s
Admittedly, Fraipdur Branch Post Office (hereinafter referred to as Faridpur B.O) is under Kaliyaganj Post Office (hereinafter referred to as Kaliyaganj S.O).
The case & evidence of the petitioner is that she is a bonafide consumer under the O.Ps having (Term Deposit) TD A/c No:364171 & 264985 where she deposited sum of Rs.4,50,000/- on 31.10.2015 & Rs.2,01,100/- on 19.12.2015 respectively to O.P.No:2 through O.P.No:1 and that on hearing bad rumour of Sub-Post Master regarding misappropriation of Govt. money in August 2019 petitioner went to the office of O.P.No:1 & 2 to search out her accounts and she was verbally told that she has no such TD accounts & immediately she informed in writing to O.P.No:2 & I.C, Kaliyaganj P.S on 10.08.2019 & thereafter on 21.08.2019 through Advocate Palash Ranjan Das she sent an application under R.T.I Act and that on 01.10.2019 office of O.P.No:2 received two passbooks from the petitioner for claim settlement & return the same after few months and on 09.10.2019 O.P.No:3 sent a reply stating that “recently some misappropriation of Govt. money has been detected at Faridpur B.O & Investigation is under process so as per Section 8(1) (h) of R.T.I Act, 2005 the information cannot be supplied.”
Defence case & evidence of Biplab Sanyal, SPM, Kaliyaganj SO, Sub Post Master of Kaliyaganj Dinajpur Division is that on receipt of a complaint from petitioner, an enquiry is made & it came out that there are several accounts which are not bonafide & are being cooked i.e by the Branch Post Master, Faridpur BO or by the petitioner & that no such account standing with the TD A/c No:364171 and on scrutiny of the passbook it reveals that A/c No:264171 was tampered and altered to appear as A/c No:364171 & that the A/c No:264171 is actually stands in the name of Bhabesh Chandra Shil & it is a regular savings account (with balance of Rs.100/-) and it is not TD account, opened on 31.01.2014 & the passbook is tampered in several places to appear it like a TD account & all the dates, figures and name of account holder are tampered in the passbook. Similarly, on enquiry it is found that A/c No:264935 is actually stands in the name of Mira Das & it is a regular savings account (with balance of Rs.100/-), not a TD account, opened on 04.12.2014 & the passbook is tampered in several places to appear it like a TD account & all the dates, figures and name of account holder are tampered in the said passbook and that none of the TD account are thus bonafide but created with the intent of deception and there are no bonafide TD accounts standing in the name of Bhato Roy Barman at Faridpur B.O.
It is not disputed that Sri Debasish Sarkar, was the then (Branch Post Master) BPM of Faridpur BO who has misappropriated Govt. money in A/c with Kaliyaganj SO. The petitioner lodged written complaint dated 10.08.2019, copy to I.C, Kaliyaganj P.S, received by Kaliyaganj P.S & also Overseer (Mail), Kaliyaganj Sub Division (I) Pin:733129 and Subhendu Basak, Inspector of Posts (Officiating), Kaliyaganj Sub Division 733129 requested for lodging an F.I.R against Sri Debasish Sarkar, Branch Post Master, Faridpur Branch Post Office under Kaliyaganj Sub Post Office, to the Officer-in-charge, Kaliyaganj Police Station, that Sri Debasish Sarkar is absconded and he has taken with him Govt. money amounting to Rs.31,751/- along with one RICT device & several important official document & that a lot public complaints have been received against him and several lakhs of public money is expected to be misappropriated, Departmental enquiry and verification is going on to establish the exact amount and requested to investigate the matter to recover Govt. money and other valuables and basis it Kaliyaganj P.S case No:159/19, dated 10.08.2019 U/s 420, 379, 409 IPC was started and the case is subjudice.
PWV report in C/w misappropriation of Govt. money by Sri Debasish Sarkar BPM, Faridpur B.O in A/c with Kaliyaganj S.O dated 24.02.2021 has been submitted by the squad in due course to the Superintendent of POS, Dinajpur Division, Balurghat 733101, signed by R.K.Verma, ASPOs (HQ), Dinajpur Dn, Balurghat, R.Lama, ASPOs Raiganj Sub Dn, Raiganj & R. Kundu SDI (P), Kaliyaganj Sub Dn, Kaliyaganj, in furtherance of previous report dated 06.07.2020.
In answer to questionnaire the O.Ps referred Point No:18 & 17 under the heading-“details of misappropriated accounts detected till date.”
18. TD A/c No:OLD No:364171 (actual A/c No is 264171/New Number 5185145012)– (Bhato Roy Barman)
This TD A/c No:364171 was opened in the name of Bhato Roy Barman D/o:Kuldeb Roy, Vill:Baikanthapur, P.O:Faridpur Via Kaliyaganj S.O, P.S:Kaliyaganj, Dist:U/Dinajpur, Pin:733129 on 31.10.2015 with initial deposit of Rs.2,01,100.00 & thereafter no transaction has been made by the depositor as per depositor’s passbook record.
Enquiry revealed following irregularities
- The BMP of Faridpur BO had opened one TD A/c No:364171 in the name of Bhato Roy Barman D/o:Kuldeb Roy, Vill:Baikanthapur, P.O:Faridpur Via Kaliyaganj SO, P.S:Kaliyaganj, Dist:U/Dinajpur, Pin:733129 on 31.10.2015 with initial deposit of Rs.2,01,100.00. But on verifying the TD passbook with entry of Rs.2,01,100.00 dated 31.10.2015 along with SO ledger and BO journal it is revealed that the amount has not been incorporated into Govt. account by the BPM, Faridpur BO.
- On examination of depositor passbook record it was found that in the covering of passbook scheme was tampered from “SB” to “TD” by the BPM, Faridpur BO.
- On examination of depositor’s passbook record it was found that in the covering of passbook account No. was tampered from “264171” to “364171” by the BPM, Faridpur BO.
- In the First page of the passbook, depositor name, address, PR number, Date & date of issue are also tampered by the BPM, Faridpur BO of the above record.
- In the 2nd & 3rd page of the passbook date of transaction, deposited amount and balance are also tampered by the BPM, Faridpur BO.
- In the 2nd and 3rd page of the passbook signature of SPM, Kaliyaganj SO, seal and affixing of date stamp impression of Kaliyaganj SO were found correct but date of SPM’s signature is found overwriting by the BPM, Faridpur BO.
- In this passbook (Old No:264171/New No:5185145012) SO Ledger copy it is found that the name of original depositor is Bhabesh Chandra Shil and he has opened one S.B passbook on 31.01.2014 with initial deposit of Rs.100/- only.
The discrepancy noticed in the passbook as per passbook entry and as per SO Ledger are noted.
The depositor of TD A/c No Bhato Roy Barman D/o:Kuldeb Roy, Vill:Baikanthapur, P.O:Faridpur Via Kaliyaganj SO, P.S:Kaliyaganj, Dist:U/Dinajpur, Pin:733129 was examined on 01.10.2019 who vide her written statement dated 01.10.2019 stated that she personally attends the post office and made all the transactions herself appearing in the passbook & confirmed the balance of Rs.2,01,100/- as on 31.10.2015 to be correct.
The BPM is not available for which he could not be examined.
As such, there is permanent fraud of Rs.2,01,100/-.
17. TD A/c No:OLD No:264935/New Number 5185486746)–(Bhato Roy Barman)
This TD A/c No:264985 was opened in the name of Bhato Roy Barman D/o:Kuldeb Roy, Vill:Baikanthapur, P.O:Faridpur Via Kaliyaganj S.O, P.S:Kaliyaganj, Dist:U/Dinajpur, Pin:733129 on 19.12.2015 with initial deposit of Rs.4,50,000.00 & thereafter no transaction has been made by the depositor as per depositor’s passbook record.
Enquiry revealed following irregularities
- The BMP of Faridpur BO had opened one TD A/c No:264935 in the name of Bhato Roy Barman D/o:Kuldeb Roy, Vill:Baikanthapur, P.O:Faridpur Via Kaliyaganj SO, P.S:Kaliyaganj, Dist:U/Dinajpur, Pin:733129 on 19.12.2015 with initial deposit of Rs.4,50,000.00. But on verifying the TD passbook with entry of Rs.4,50,000.00 dated 19.12.2015 along with SO ledger and BO journal it is revealed that the amount has not been incorporated into Govt. account by the BPM, Faridpur BO.
- On examination of depositor passbook record it was found that in the covering of passbook scheme was tampered from “SB” to “TD” by the BPM, Faridpur BO.
- In the First page of the passbook, depositor name, address, PR number, Date & date of issue are also tampered by the BPM, Faridpur BO of the above record.
- In the 2nd & 3rd page of the passbook date of transaction, deposited amount and balance are also tampered by the BPM, Faridpur BO.
- In the 2nd and 3rd page of the passbook signature of SPM, Kaliyaganj SO, seal and affixing of date stamp impression of Kaliyaganj SO were found correct but date of SPM’s signature is found overwriting by the BPM, Faridpur BO.
- In this passbook (Old No:264935/New No:5185486746) SO Ledger copy it is found that the name of original depositor is Mira Das and he has opened one S.B passbook on 04.12.2014 with initial deposit of Rs.100/- only.
The discrepancy noticed in the passbook as per passbook entry and as per SO Ledger are noted.
The depositor of TD A/c No Bhato Roy Barman D/o:Kuldeb Roy, Vill:Baikanthapur, P.O:Faridpur Via Kaliyaganj SO, P.S:Kaliyaganj, Dist:U/Dinajpur, Pin:733129 was examined on 01.10.2019 who vide her written statement dated 01.10.2019 stated that she personally attends the post office and made all the transactions herself appearing in the passbook & confirmed the balance of Rs.4,50,000/- as on 19.12.2015 to be correct.
The BPM is not available for which he could not be examined.
As such, there is permanent fraud of Rs.4,50,000/-.
Total misappropriated amount so far detected = Rs.10,93,851.00 Principal offender Sri Debasish Sarkar, BPM, Faridpur BO who is absconding.
15 officials named in PWV report may be identified as subsidiary offenders in this case.
Under above facts & discussion, we are of the opinion that Sri Debasish Sarkar, the then Branch Postmaster of Faridpur Branch Post Office (herein after referred to as BPM, Faridpur BO), by name, should be impleaded as a necessary party of this case in order to get effective & proper remedy & in his absence we are unable to find deficiency of service or malpractice/unfair practice on the part of present O.Ps, consequently the petitioner is not entitled to get relief as prayed for.
In the result the case fails.
Hence, it is
O R D E R E D
that the C.C-23/2021 be and the same is dismissed on contest against the O.Ps but without any cost.
Let a copy of this order be given to the parties free of cost.
