Date of filing: 14.06.2017 Date of disposal: 26.06.2018
Complainant: Susanta Hati, S/o. Late Umapada Hati, resident of Vill: Kashipur, PO: Sahebganj, PS: Bhatar, Dist: Purba Barddhaman, PIN – 713 121.
Opposite Party: 1. The Branch Manager, Allahabad Bank, having its Branch Office at Sahebganj Branch, Sahebganj, PO: Sahebganj, PS: Bhatar, Dist: Purba Barddhaman, PIN – 713 121.
2. The A.D.A., Bhatar Block, PS: Bhatar, Dist: Purba Barddhaman, PIN – 713 125.
Present:
Hon’ble President: Smt. Jayanti Maitra (Ray).
Hon’ble Member: Smt. Nivedita Ghosh.
Hon’ble Member: Dr. Tapan Kumar Tripathy.
Appeared for the Complainant: Ld. Advocate, Debdas Rudra & Subrata Ghosh.
Appeared for the Opposite Party No. 1: Ld. Advocate, Kuntal Baksi.
Appeared for the Opposite Party No. 2: Ld. Advocate, Deb Krishna Sinha.
J U D G E M E N T
The present application under Section 12 of the C. P. Act, 1986 filed by the complainant against the O.Ps. on the allegation that due to deficiency in service and unfair trade practice he, himself along with his family members suffering mental pain and agony, accordingly praying Rs. 17,600=00 towards crop insurance as per Govt. Notification i.e. 44% of the loan amount as well as
Rs. 50,000=00 as compensation towards mental pain and agony and also Rs. 15,000=00 as litigation cost.
The case of the complainant is that he is a cultivator by profession and due to his livelihood he obtained K.C.C. loan of Rs. 40,000=00 from the OP-1 for a period of 2014-15 due to paucity of fund and accordingly the OP-1 granted the said loan of Rs. 40,000=00 in favour of him and he received the said loan amount through his Bank A/c. No. 22371919857 and after receiving the said amount he started to cultivate the paddy in Boro season but due to natural calamity of storm the paddy crops have damaged for which he lodged the complaint.
The allegation is that due to damage of crops he as well as other farmers all were suffering from huge loss and for such financial situation of farmers, Govt. announced or disbursement of 44% crop insurance to those farmers who obtained the K.C.C. loan from Bank or any other financial institutions for the period of 2014-15, but as per announcement by the Govt. for disbursement of 44% crop insurance the farmers who obtained K.C.C. loan have not get any disbursement of 44% crop insurance and for that the complainant and others have requested to OP Bank to disburse 44% of loan in favour of them as per Govt. notification and thereafter they also requested to OP-2 for making arrangements for disbursement as per Govt. notification, but both the Ops did not pay any heed to the request of the complainant along with others and as such all of them have been suffering a lot.
The further allegation is that the complainant and others sent a mass application vide letter dated 17.10.2016 requesting to the Ops to make arrangements for disbursement of 44% loan amount as per Govt. notification and Ops also received the said application on 17.10.2016 with official seal and signature but failed to make any arrangements for disbursement of 44% of the loan amount towards crop insurance and such type of attitude of both the Ops showed their deficiency in service and unfair trade practice and so that the complainant along with his family members have been suffering great mental pain and agony and for that the complainant compelled to lodge this present application to get 44% crop insurance as per Govt. notification along with compensation as well as litigation cost.
The cause of action of this case arose on 04.04.2015 i.e. from the destruction of paddy due to violent storm and finally on 17.10.2016 when Ops have received the letter sent by the complainant dated 17.10.2016.
Both the Ops 1&2 have contested the present complaint under Section 12 of C.P. Act by filing separate written versions. The OP-1 i.e. the Branch Manager of the Allahabad Bank stated in the written objection that the complainant has no cause of action to file the present complaint as such the complaint is barred by principles of estoppels, waiver & acquiescence and also barred under the law of limitation.
OP-1 also denied all the allegations as alleged by the complainant by saying that all are false, frivolous and further stated that Zonal Manager and Chairman of Allahabad Bank are necessary parties and as such the complaint is barred by non-joinder of necessary parties.
OP-1 further stated that the complainant has not been specifically mentioned regarding natural calamity for which he suffered the loss of Boro paddy.
The specific case of the OP-1 is that the compensation of the crop in case of loss of crops by natural calamity has been governed by Agricultural Insurance Co. of India Ltd. and this OP has been forwarded 215 K.C.C. holder to the Agricultural Insurance Co. of India Ltd. and the amount of compensation would be directly credited to the account of the applicant by the Agricultural Insurance Co. of India Ltd. and OP-1 has no liability to pay any amount as compensation as per Govt. notification and accordingly the complainant is not entitled to get any amount as compensation and the claim application should be dismissed.
The OP-2 also contested the present claim application by separate written version where stated that present claim application is not maintainable and also barred by limitation and the complainant has no cause of action for filing the present claim application and also denied all the allegation as alleged by the complainant.
The specific case of the OP-2 is that though the complainant requested for making arrangement for disbursement of the amount but the OP-2 do not have any authority to disburse the amount as claimed by the complainant instead of making arrangements of crop cutting experiment of Boro paddy for the year 2014-15 on the basis of which the crop insurance has been settled.
The OP-2 further stated that their duty is related only to process of crop cutting experiment as per the notification and guidelines of NAIS which do not come under the purview of this case and as such this complainant cannot be a consumer of this OP and hence this OP prayed before this Forum to expunge them from this case as defective party and the present claim application liable to be dismissed against this OP.
On considering the claim application along with written versions filed by the OP-1&2, the following issues settled by the present form:
- Whether this claim application maintainable in its present form?
- Whether both the Ops liable to disburse 44% crop insurance in favour of the complainant as per Govt. notification?
- Whether complainant entitled to get any decree as prayed for?
- To what other relief or reliefs, the complainant entitles to get as per Govt. notification/ as per provisions of law?
All the points are taken up together for comprehensive discussion and decision. The complainant in his claim application stated that he obtained Rs. 40,000=00 from OP-1 i.e. from Allahabad Bank but regarding statement about loan amount of Rs. 40,000=00 from Allahabad Bank he did not produce any document i.e. KCC or bank statement which will prove the fact. On the other hand, Allahabad Bank i.e.OPp-1 by producing the bank statement clears the fact that complainant has borrowed Rs. 12,100=00 only for cultivation of borrow paddy.
So from the attitude of the complainant it shows that he actually received Rs. 12,100=00 as loan from the OP-1 for Boro paddy cultivation for the year 2014-15.
Complainant totally failed to produce the documents regarding the actual amount which he has taken from OP-1.
Moreover he also failed to produce his KCC card to show that as a KCC holder he received the said loan amount from OP-1 for Boro paddy cultivation. But OP-1 able to prove the actual loan amount which they disbursed in favour of the complainant by producing bank statement from 01.10.2014 to 31.03.2015.
Admittedly the complainant has taken loan amount of Rs. 12,100=00 from OP-1 but failed to prove that due to natural calamity of storm he suffered huge loss for Boro paddy cultivation for which he could get 44% crop insurance from Ops against loan amount of Rs. 40,000=00 as per Govt. notification but he can only able to prove that he is entitled to get Rs. 5,324=00 as 44% crop insurance from the Ops due to damage of cultivation as per Govt. notification against loan amount of Rs. 12,100=00.
Hence, it is
O r d e r e d
that the Consumer Complaint being No. 90/2017 is allowed on contest against the Ops and both the Ops are equally liable to pay the amount as compensation and as such both Ops are hereby directed to pay Rs. 5,324=00 as 44% crop insurance against total claim amount of Rs. 12,100=00 as per Govt. notification and the Ops are also directed to pay Rs. 5,000=00 as mental pain, agony and harassment and also Rs. 2,000=00 as litigation cost equally to the complainant within 45 days from the date of passing of this award, in default, the complainant is at liberty to put the award in execution as per provisions of law.
Let the plain copies of this order be supplied to the parties free of cost as per provisions of law.
Dictated & Corrected by me: (Jayanti Maitra (Ray)
President
(Nivedita Ghosh) DCDRF, Burdwan
President
DCDRF, Burdwan
(Tapan Kumar Tripathy) (Nivedita Ghosh)
Member Member
DCDRF, Burdwan DCDRF, Burdwan
