DATE OF DISPOSAL: 27.06.2023

PER:   SRI SATISH KUMAR PANIGRAHI, PRESIDENT

The fact of the case in brief is that the complainant has filed this Consumer complaint under section 35 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 alleging deficiency in service and unfair trade practice by the Opposite Parties (in short O.Ps.) and for redressal of his grievance before this Commission.   

2. The complainant availed a loan from O.P.No.1 on dated 29.06.2021 and regularly depositing her installment in the office of the O.P.No.1 at Berhampur, District Ganjam Odisha without any delay. On 21.09.2021 the complainant applied for another loan at the office of O.P.No.1 and the O.P.No.1 has allowed the said loan to the complainant and as per terms and conditions of the O.P.No.1 the complainant regularly depositing her loan amount to the O.P.No.1. Again on 15.03.2022 the complainant applied for loan at the office of O.P.No.1 and continuing the same without fail any dues and on 26.12.2022 the complainant has already clear/closed the 3^rd loan. On 05.08.2022 the staff of O.P.No.1 along with the Branch Manager called to the complainant and takes her finger print in the machine of the O.P.No.1 as closed the account of the complainant.  On faith upon the O.P.No.1 and 3 the complainant has agreed to their proposal and put her thumb impression in the machine of the O.P.No.1at Barsa Maa Centre of Kansari street, Aska Road, Berhampur, Dist: Ganjam. The staff of the O.P.No.1 along with the O.P.No.3 taken fake signature of the complainant and sanctioned the another loan amount on 05.08.2022 without knowledge/consent of the complainant, after some months passed, the complainant came to know from reliable source that the account of the complainant has been forged by the O.P.No.1 & 3. The complainant’s utter surprise after knowing the forged transaction by the O.P.No.1 to 3 the complainant has suffered from harassment and mental agony. The complainant has not applied the 4^th time of loan in the office of O.P.No.1 but the O.P.No.1 sanctioned the said loan to the O.P.No.3 to make false signature and LTI of the complainant. Alleging deficiency in service on the part of the O.P. the complainant prayed to cancel the 4^th loan vide client ID No: 11:01:234:10:010 from the office of the O.P.No.1, compensation of Rs.30,000/- for harassment and mental agony and litigation cost of Rs.20,000/- in the best interest of justice.
3. Duly acknowledging the Notices by the Opposite Parties but they neither choose to appear nor filed any written version within stipulated period allowed under the Act, 2019. Hence all the O.Ps set exparte on dated 30.05.2023.
4. To substantiate his case the complainant has filed his evidence on affidavit, documents.

On the date of exparte hearing of the case, we heard from the complainant and perused the case record and the materials placed on it. The opposite parties did not challenge the contentions of the case and not filed any relevant documents. It deems that, the fact submitted by the Complainant in his complaint together with sole testimony about manipulation of signature of the complainant through the opposite party no.3 was true. And the without implicit consent of the complainant, the opposite party no. 1  has sanctioned a loan on 5^th August, 2022 bearing Loan Account No.:MFI-3/25570 under Member ID: 11:01:234:10:010 for Flowers. The sanction of loan in violation of the terms and conditions of the Account is tantamount to deficiency in services and coming under the banking services. Recently, a guidelines laid down by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in this regard in the case of Arun Bhatiya v. HDFC Bank & Ors, Civil Appeal Nos 5204-5205 of 2022 that, “A person who avails any service from a Bank will fall under the purview of the definition of a ‘Consumer’ within the meaning of the Consumer Protection Act.” This Commission by relying upon the above ruling of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, allowed the present case against the Opposite Parties.

Moreover, the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India held in Internet And Mobile Association Of India v. Reserve Bank Of India, Writ Petition (Civil) No.528 Of 2018 & Writ Petition (Civil) No.373 Of 2018, Date Of Disposal: March 4, 2020 that, “if a bank misutilizes the specimen signature of an account holder, it would be liable for the loss caused to the account holder. The court also held that banks have a duty to maintain secrecy of the accounts of their customers and that they cannot disclose any information about their customers’ accounts without their consent or without being required by law to do so.” In view of this ratio decidendi, the principle of law is applicable in the present case and the banking service provider should follow it strictly with true spirit of law. Hence, the Opposite Party No.1 & 2 is directed to be careful while sanctioning loan and not to repeat such type of mistakes in future.

In the result, the opposite party no.1 & 2 are directed to cancel and close the loan account sanctioned on 5^th August, 2022 bearing No.: MFI – 3/25570. Further the opposite parties No.: 1 & 3 are directed to pay compensation of Rs.5000/- to the complainant towards mental harassment & physical agonies sustained since the date of sanction of the loan without her implicit consent. For such act of the Opposite party No. 1 & 3, the complainant in constraint knocked the door of this Commission and engaged a lawyer for which said opposite parties are liable to pay litigation cost of Rs.3000/- to file this case. The opposite parties are directed to comply this order within a period of 30 days from the date of receipt of this order. In the event of non-compliance of the order, the complainant is at liberty to recover the entire amount from the O.Ps with interest @12% per annum from the date of filing of the case i.e. 02.02.2023 till actual date of realisation of the same is made under the Consumer Protection Act.

This case is disposed of accordingly.

No order as to cost and compensation.

The Judgment be uploaded on the www.confonet.nic.in for the perusal of the parties.

A certified copy of this Judgment be provided to all the parties free of cost as mandated by the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 or they may download same from the www.confonet.nic.in to treat the same as if copy of the order received from this Commission.

The file is to be consigned to the record room along with a copy of this Judgment.

Pronounced on 27.06.2023