BEFORE THE DISTRICT CONSUMER FORUM: MEDAK AT SANGAREDDY
PRESENT: SRI P.V.SUBRAHMANYAM, B.A,B.L., PRESIDENT.
SMT U.SUNITA, M.A., LADY MEMBER.
SRI MEKALA NARSIMHAREDDY, M.A,LL.B.,P.G.D.C.P.L
MALE MEMBER.
Monday the 2nd day of February, 2009
CC.NO.25/2008
Between:
L. Padma W/o Late Lingam
Aged: 30 years, Occ: Private Employee
R/o Mandapuram
H/o B.G. Venkatapur village of
Jagadevpur Mandal, Medak District.
… complainant.
And
The Branch Manager,
State Bank of India,
Branch Jagadevpur, District Medak
… Opposite parties.
This case came up for final hearing before us on 27.01.2009 in the presence of Sri A. Hari Krishan, advocate for complainant Sri Joshi Narayana Rao, advocate for opposite party, upon hearing the arguments of both sides, on perusing the record and having stood over for consideration till this day, this forum delivered the following.
O R D E R
( Per Sri. P.V. Subrahmanyam, President)
The complaint is filed Under Section 12 of Consumer Protection Act, 1986 to direct the opposite party to return pass book bearing No. 01170070968 and to pay Rs. 50,000/- as damages to the complainant.
1). The averments in the complaint in brief are as follows:-
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The complainant is a resident of Mandapuram of Jagadevpur Mandal, Medak District and working as ayaa at Government School Mandapuram Village on a monthly salary of Rs. 700/-. She has been drawing her salary through A/c. No. 01170070968 of State Bank of India, Jagadevpur Branch i.e. the opposite party. The complainant’s husband L. Lingam sustained grievous injuries in a motor accident in year 2004 and in that connection he filed Motor Vehicle Accident O.P. No. 86/04 on the file of IV ADJ, Siddipet in which Rs.5,000/- was granted with interest and costs. Later the complainant’s husband died. On 7-2-2008 IV ADJ, Siddipet allowed cheque petition for Rs. 6,214/- and sent cheque together with pass book bearing No. 01170070968 to the opposite party. During March, 2008 the complainant approached the manager of the opposite party and enquired about the cheque and pass book. Opposite party gave irresponsible reply to the complainant and used vulgar language. Again on 19-4-2008 the complainant approached the Manager/Accountant of the opposite party for payment of the cheque amount of Rs.6,214/- and for return of the pass book. He has not returned the pass book nor paid the cheque amount to the complainant. The complainant could not take her salary from October,2007 as the pass book was not returned. The opposite party used vulgar language and misbehaved with the complainant and said that her pass book was not available and asked her to get out from the bank, due to which much inconvenience was caused to the complainant. The attitude of the opposite party amounts to cheating and abuse of official power. Finally on 21-4-2008 the complainant got a legal notice issued by her advocate. Hence the complainant.
2). The opposite party filed it’s version to resist the claim. The contents of the version in brief are as follows:-
The opposite party is not aware of the residence, avocation, and salary of the complainant. The complainant is maintaining account bearing No. 11568816409 with the opposite party and certain credits were given to the account as and when cheques were presented for collection. The opposite party is not aware of the complainant’s husband sustaining injuries in motor accident, his filing claim O.P. and court awarding Rs.5,000/- compensation to him and about his death later
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and there upon allowing of the cheque petition of the complainant which was filed on 7-2-2008. It is true that cheque for Rs.6,214/- together with pass book sent by IV ADJ court, Siddipet was received. It is denied that during March, 2008 the complainant approached the opposite party and enquired about her pass book and cheque and the opposite party gave irresponsible answer and used vulgar language. It is all a created story for the purpose of the complaint. Cheque received from the Hon’ble District Judge in the name of the complainant was sent to State Bank of Hyderabad, Jagdevpur for collection on 19-3-2008 as the cheque pertains to that bank. The State Bank of Hyderabad, Jagdevpur issued a draft bearing No. 362261, Dt. 5-4-2008 for Rs. 6,155/-, after deducting the collection charges of Rs. 60/-, in the name of the opposite party and the same was credited to the complainant’s account on 17-4-2008 and for delayed payment in getting the clearance from the State Bank of Hyderabad, the opposite party has also credited interest amounting to Rs. 118/- on 2-6-2008. On 19-4-2008 the complainant did not approach the opposite party for payment of cheque amount and for return of the pass book. Without complainant’s approach it is not possible for the banker to return the pass book. It is denied that the complainant did not draw her salary from October, 2007 due to non returning of the pass book. There was no delay on the part of the opposite party in returning pass book. It is also denied that opposite party misbehaved and used vulgar language and said that the pass book was not available and asked the complainant to get out from the bank. They are all false allegations created to harass the bank officials. The opposite party is not aware whether the alleged notice dated. 21-4-2008 reached the opposite party or not. No proof of service of the notice is filed. As verified from the notice the allegations are not tenable and it is created for the purpose of this complaint. The alleged representation addressed to the District Judge is not supported by any evidence. What ever amounts received, were credited to the account of the complainant.
Prior to the filing of the complaint the complainant came to the bank and received back her pass book and requested for personal loan, as relief was provided for farmers as per directions of RBI and Central Government. The bank officials stated that they would provide the loan in the month of June, 2008 and it
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is not possible to grant loan before June, 2008; therefore the complainant bore grudge and to harass the bank officials this complaint is filed with baseless allegations in order to extract money or to get loan forcibly. The opposite party bank is converted to (Core Banking) online banking therefore the account number of the complainant was changed. If really the complainant approached the bank she would have come to know about the change of her account number. As she did not approach, she does not know about the change of her account number and hence she mentioned her old account number only. The complaint may therefore be dismissed, as no deficiency in service is proved.
3). Evidence affidavit of the complainant and that of the branch manager of the opposite party bank are filed. Exs. A1 to A7 are marked (Exs. A3 and A7 are marked subject to objection) on behalf of the complainant. No documents are marked on behalf of the opposite party. Written arguments of complainant filed. Memo filed by the counsel for opposite party to treat the version of opposite party as written arguments. Oral arguments of both sides heard. Perused the record.
4). The point for the consideration is whether the complainant is entitled for return of her bank pass book and Rs.50,000/- as damages from the opposite party?
Point:
5). Complainant’s case is that her husband met with a motor accident and sustained injuries, for which he filed a claim petition in Motor Accident Claims Tribunal which has awarded a compensation of Rs.5,000/- and it was deposited with interest etc. and later the complainant’s husband died. Then the complainant filed a cheque petition and it was allowed and a cheque for Rs.6,214/- was issued in favour of the complainant and the said cheque, together with the complainant’s bank account pass book was sent to the SBI, Jagadevpur Branch where the complainant has an account bearing No. 01170070968. But the said bank credited the amount to the account of the complainant with delay and has not returned the pass book to the complainant to enable her to withdraw the amount
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and when she went to the bank and asked for return of the pass book, the Bank Manager/ Accountant abused her in vulgar language and said that the pass book was not available and inspite of her notice the pass book has not returned her pass book to her there by the complainant felt much inconvenience and incurred expenses and hence this complaint is filed to award damages of Rs.50,000/- for deficiency in service and to direct the opposite party to return pass book to her. The defence of the opposite party is that the account number of the complainant’s account is changed from 01170070968 to 11568816409 because the bank is converted to (Core Banking) online banking and the complainant is not aware of the same as she has not come to the bank and the bank has received the cheque and pass book from IV ADJ court, Siddipet with old account number only, inspite of it the cheque amount was credited to the account of the complainant in the new number and the opposite party returned the pass book to the complainant. It is their further case that the complainant asked for a personal loan for which the bank officials said to her that they can provide in June,2008 only but not before that, for which the complainant bore grudge and to harass the bank officials the complaint is filed with false allegations.
6). Let us now consider the material placed by the complainant in order to find out whether the same is sufficient to substantiate her contentions. Ex.A3 is Legal Notice. Ex. A1 is postal registration receipt under which the notice was sent to opposite party. Ex.A7 is Xerox copy of postal acknowledgement. Ex.A2 is courier receipt for sending copy of Ex.A3 to Regional Manager, SBI. Ex.A4 is Xerox copy of report of the complainant to the District Judge, Sangareddy against the opposite party. Ex.A5 is Xerox copy of a portion of certified copy of the decree given in the Motor Accident case. Ex. A6 is copy of cheque petition filed in the IV ADJ court, Siddipet.
7). Ex.A3 and A7 are marked subject to objection. According to the learned counsel for the opposite party, Ex.A3 notice was not at all received by the opposite party and the copy of the signature in Ex.A7 is not that of any of the bank officials.
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The complainant has not stated any where as to what happened to the postal acknowledgement. According to her advocate it was not received therefore a copy
of it is obtained from the post office, which is Ex.A7. Ex. A7 does not contain stamp of opposite party bank or the name of the signatory who received the registered cover. Even though Ex. A3 shows that copy of it was marked to Regional Manager, SBI, Hyderabad and copy of Ex. A3 was stated to have been sent through Ex.A2 courier receipt, Ex.A2 shows that it was sent to Regional Manager, SBI, Sangareddy but not Hyderabad as mentioned Ex. A3.
8). The contention of the complainant is that on 7-2-2008 IV ADJ court, Siddipet allowed her cheque petition for Rs.6,214/- and sent the cheque together with pass book to the opposite party bank. Her further contention is that she could not take her salary from October,2007 as the pass book was not returned. The contentions of the complainant in this regard cannot be appreciated for two reasons. Firstly the complainant not taking her salary from October, 2007 cannot be said to be for non returning of pass book by the bank because her own case is that pass book was sent by the court to the bank subsequent to 7-2-2008. Secondly, on a reading of the complaint and the evidence affidavit of the complaint it is clearly understood that the complainant has been living with her salary of Rs.700/- per month by working as ayaa in a school. It is not her case that she has any other source of income or any assets to live without the salary of Rs.700/-. She has not filed statement of account to show that she has not taken her salary from October, 2007, nor she produced any evidence to believe her contention that she could not take her salary, as pass book was not returned to her and that the bank officials used vulgar language against her and asked her to get out from the bank by filing evidence affidavit of any person who was present at that time. Under these circumstances her version that she could not take her salary from the bank from October, 2007 as pass book was not returned to her, is an absurd contention.
9). It is argued by the learned counsel for the opposite party that when ever bank receives cheque together with pass book to credit the cheque amount to the account of a customer, it is the practice that the customer has to come to the bank
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and take back his/her pass book and bank does not go to them to return the pass book. According to him the complainant never came to the bank after the bank received the cheque and pass book, to take back the pass book therefore she does not know the new number allotted to her account and therefore old number only was given in the complaint and hence her contention that she came to the bank for return of the pass book and the bank officials used vulgar language against her and behaved irresponsibly cannot be believed to be true. It is stated by him that this is a story matted by the complainant to file this complaint with false allegations as she could not get personal loan immediately. It is stated by him that as soon as the cheque was received by the bank it was sent to SBH, Siddipet for collection and demand draft was received from the said bank on 5-4-2008 and thereupon the amount was credited to the account of the complainant and because there is delay of 12 days in crediting the amount the bank has also credited an amount of Rs. 118/- towards interest. In the circumstances the arguments of the learned counsel for the opposite party are with sound reasons and hence they are acceptable.
10). In view of the discussion supra it is held that the complainant has failed to prove any deficiency in service on the part of the opposite party and that she is entitled to the damages and direction prayed for. The point is answered against the complainant.
11). In the result the complainant is dismissed. No costs.
Typed to dictation, corrected and pronounced by us in the open forum this the 2nd day of February, 2009.
Sd/-
President Lady Member Male Member
Sd/-
PRESIDENT
Copy to
1) The Complainant
2) The Opposite parties
3) Spare copy Copy delivered to the Complainant/
Opp.Parties On __________
Dis.No. /2009, dt.
