Date of filing:- 06/02/2018.
Date of Order:-23/10/2019.
DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTE REDRESSAL FORUM(COURT)
B A R G A R H.
Consumer Complaint No. 10 of 2018.
Biranchi Narayan Panigrahi, S/o late Ramprasad Panigrahi, aged about-65(sixty five) years, R/o/Vill-Tumuripan, P.o. Amthi, P.s. Jharbandh, Dist-Bargarh. ..... ..... .... Complainant.
-: V e r s u s :-
The Branch Manager ,State Bank of India,Amthi Branch ,At/Po/PS-Jharbandh,Dist-Bargarh ..... ..... ..... Opposite Party.
Counsel for the Parties:-
For the Complainant :- Sri S.K.Mahapatra, Advocate with others Advocates.
For the Opposite Party :- Ex-parte.
-: P R E S E N T :-
Sri Krishna Prasad Mishra ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... P r e s i d e n t.
Ajanta Subhadarsinee ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... M e m b e r (W).
Dt.23/10/2019. -: J U D G E M E N T:-
Presented by Sri Krishna Prasad Mishra, President:-
Brief fact of the case ;-
The case of the Complainant is that, he has incurred a loan from the Opposite Party Branch by mortgaging his R.O.R of his landed properties vide holding No.78 of an area of Ac.24.17 dc of Mouza-Tumuripani to purchase a tractor for the Agricultural purpose of agriculture of his land and the loan was disbursed to him vide his Loan Account No.11847809799 and also after purchasing the tractor the original key of the same was retained by the Opposite Party. And the case of the Complainant is that he repaid the Loan Amount with interest without any default and cleared of his all dues on Dt.26.06.2012.
The cause of action in filing the case before the Forum is that after repayment of the loan amount dues on him the Opposite Party did not return his said mortgaged documents even after several reminder which the Opposite Party is supposed to return immediately after the clearance of the loan amount ultimately seeing no other alternative the Complainant served him with a Pleader Notice on Dt.24 .11.2016 through his advocate Mr. Surendra Panda but he was informed by the Opposite Party that the same documents is not available with them and might have been burnt by fire and they are not able to return the same which in his view is nothing but case of deficiencies of service on their part.
In furtherance to his case the Complainant had availed a crop loan from the Opposite Party in the year-2009 vide his loan account No.11847785620 for an amount of Rs.92,535/-(Rupees ninety two thousand five hundred thirty five) only and against which he was paying the interest of the same regularly as the prevailing precedent he was supposed to pay the interest on installment basis as a lonee farmer but the Opposite Party without intimating the Complainant transferred the loan amount deducting from one of his fixed deposit vide FD Account No.32290351118 before the maturity period of the same which in his view is an act of unfair trade practice on the part of the Opposite Party thus he claims the date of cause of action of the case on Dt.26.06.2012 when he cleared up his dues arising out of his tractor loan and on Dt.13.03.2014, Dt.05.05.2014, Dt.03.02.2016, Dt.05.04.2016 when he requested the Opposite Party to return his R.O.R. and on Dt.01.08.2016 when the Opposite Party intimated the Complainant expressing his inability in returning the same and on Dt.24.11.2016 when the Pleader Notice was served on the Opposite Party and has prayed before the Forum to issue direction to return his said R.O.R. in original and to compensate him with Rs.70,000/-(Rupees seventy thousand)only towards the mental agony and harassment undergone by him and an amount of Rs.10,000/-(Rupees ten thousand)only towards litigation expenses, and in substantiating his case has relied upon some following Documents:-
- Statement of account of Account No-11847809799.
- Copy of the four numbers of representation approaching to return of the Documents.
- Office copy of the Pleader Notice.
- Four numbers of postal receipt.
- Five numbers of AD card.
- Reply of the Opposite Party Dt.01.08.2016.
- Fixed deposite receipt No. vide Acc No-3229035118,Dt. 18.04.2012.
Having gone through the Complaint, its accompanied documents and on hearing the learned counsel for the Complainant the case was admitted and Notice was served on the Opposite Party for appearance and for filing of their version.
Inspite of being served with the Notice duely, the Opposite Party did not appear before the Forum till Dt.13 .08.2018 consequent upon which he was set ex-parte and the Forum decided to hold hearing of the case in Ex-parte.
Heard the case in ex-parte placed by the learned counsel for the Complainant, perused the complaint and the accompanied documents and we are of the view to adjudicate the case with the following points:-
- Whether the Opposite Party is deficient in rendering service to the Complainant ?
- Whether the Complainant is entitled to the relief as has been sought for by him ?
While dealing with the point of determination with regard to the question as to whether the Opposite Party is deficient in rendering service towards the Complainant, we examined the materials available before us and found that the Complainant has rightly availed a tractor loan from the Opposite Party by mortgaging his landed property and have pledged the R.O.R of his land concerned in the Brach Office of the Opposite Party in his custody and also it has been found from the record that he has repaid the laon amount within the stipulated period of time and has cleared up all the dues amount on him which is clearly evident from the statement of account of the bank of the Opposite Party which has been duly provided by the Opposite Party himself, but on the Contrary it is also found to be proved from the materials available in the record that in spite of repeated request made by the Complainant the R.O.R submitted by the Complainant before the Opposite Party has not been returned rather after a long lapse of time he has been intimated by the Opposite Party that his said documents might have been burnt and could not be returned to him which speaks of their callousness and deficiencies in rendering him proper service which has been again magnitude by the act of the Opposite Party in non appearing before the Forum even if being duly noticed.
Furthermore the acts of the Opposite Party amplified his deficient action towards the Complainant as has been alleged by the Complainant that in an another occasion when the Complainant had availed a crop loan from the Opposite Party vide Loan Account No.11847785620 for an amount of Rs.92,535/-(Rupees ninety two thousand five hundred thirty five)only and has been paying the interest accrued of the same regularly but in spite of that the Opposite Party has deducted the said loan amount from one of the fixed deposit Account No.3229035118 without any prior information to the Complainant in addition to that the Opposite Party did not bother to appear or to file any reply to the same which in our view is a grivious offence of deficiencies of service in accordance with provision of the Act it-self. Hence in view of the above facts and circumstances our answer goes in favor of the Complainant.
And while dealing with the question as to claims of the Complainant with regard to the relief, as we have already discussed in our foregoing paragraphs in details and have expressed our view in favor the Complainant now it is obvious on our part to express view in favor of the Complainant and are of the view that the Complainant is entitled to the following relief and the Opposite Party is liable to comply with the same, hence order follows.
O R D E R
Hence the Opposite Party is directed to pay an amount of Rs.20,000/-(Rupees twenty thousand)only as compensation to the Complainant towards his mental and physical harassment and also directed to pay him an amount of Rs.5000/-(Rupees five thousand)only towards the litigation expenses, in addition to that the Opposite Party is also directed to return the original R.O.R Copy of the Land Mortgaged before him by the Complainant within thirty days of receipt of the Order, in default of which the total awarded amount would carry an interest @ 12 %(twelve percent) per annum from the date of the Order and suitable punitive measure as per the Consumer Protection Act 1986 would be imposed upon him.
Accordingly the order is pronounced in the open Forum and disposed off to-day i.e on Dt.23/10/2019. Typed to my dictation
and corrected by me.
( Sri Krishna Prasad Mishra)
P r e s i d e n t.
I agree,
( Ajanta Subhadarsinee)
M e m b e r (W)
Uploaded by
Sri Dusmanta Padhan
Office Assistant, Bargarh.
