Punjab

Patiala

CC/15/202

Simarjit Kaur - Complainant(s)

Versus

The Cooprative Bank - Opp.Party(s)

Sh H.S. Bhatmajr

04 Jan 2016

ORDER

DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM, PATIALA.

Complaint No. CC/15/202 of 17/09/2015

Decided on 04/01/2016

 

Simarjit Kaur w/o Jasjit Singh Sabhikhi D/o Sh. Swarn Singh r/o # 635, New Mehar Singh Colony, Tripuri Town, Patiala.

….Complainant.

Versus

 

1. The Managing Director, The Cooperative Bank Ltd., The Lower Mall, Patiala.

2. The Branch Manager, The Patiala Cooperative Bank Ltd., The Lower Mall, Patiala.

….Opposite parties.

 

Complaint under Sections 11 to 14 of the

Consumer Protection Act.

 

QUORUM

Sh. D. R. Arora, President Smt. Neelam Gupta, Member

 

Present:

For Complainant : Sh. Jasjit Singh Sabhikhi Advocate

For Opposite parties : Sh. Manjit Singh Advocate

 

ORDER

D. R. ARORA, PRESIDENT:

1. It is alleged by the complainant that she is working as teacher in the Govt. Elementary School Magar Sahib, Bhunerheri-II, Patiala and is maintaining her CPF account no.160236046100031 with the OPs. Previously she was posted as ETT teacher in the Govt. Elementary School Sultanpur Lodhi, District Kapurthala and she maintained her CPF account with Union Bank of India branch Sultanpur Lodhi. At the time of her transfer from Sultanpur Lodhi to Magar Sahib Bhunerheri, the BD & PO Bhunerheri directed her to get her CPF A/c transferred. On the request of the complainant the Union Bank of India branch Sultanpur Lodhi issued draft no.291250 dt.26/09/2014 in a sum of Rs. 2,27,465/- in respect of the CPF account in favour of BD & PO Bhunerheri.

2. It is further averred that office of BD&PO Bhunerheri deposited the said draft with OP no.2 on 29/9/2014 although the same was required to be transferred immediately in her account no.160236046100031 but the same was transferred only on 22/06/2015. The amount deposited with OP no.2 remained lying with the bank and the same was required to be transferred to the CPF account of the complainant. On repeated requests made by the complainant OP no.2 transferred the principal amount of Rs.2,27,465/- in her account on 23/06/2015 without any interest for the period 29/09/2014 to 23/06/2015.

3. The complainant requested the OPs to issue the statement of account but to no effect. She also requested the OPs to credit the amount of the interest on the amount of Rs.2,27,465/- for the said period but the OPs made a refusal in the last week of July 2015. Accordingly she got the OPs served with a legal notice through counsel on 31/07/2015 sent through registered post but to no effect. Accordingly the complainant brought this complaint against the Ops u/s 12 of the Consumer Protection Act 1986 ( for short the Act) for a direction to the OPs to pay her Rs.15,500/- by way of interest for a period of nine months on the CPF amount of Rs.2,27,465/- and further to pay her Rs.25,000/- by way of compensation on account of harassment and mental agony and cost of the complaint.

4. On notice OPs appeared and file their written version having raised certain preliminary objections, interalia, that complaint is not maintainable against the OPs and that complaint is bad for non-joinder of BD&PO Bhunerheri. As regards the facts of the complaint, it is denied that BD&PO Bhunerheri deposited the draft of Rs.2,27,465/- on 29/09/2014. The BD&PO had deposited cheque no.000556 dt.21/10/2014 for an amount of Rs.4,45,476/- for being credited into the account of Smt. Simarjit Kaur ( Complainant) to the extent of Rs.2,27,465/-, in the account of Smt. Preeti Ghai to the extent of Rs.1,65,011/- and in the account of Sh. Manjit Singh to the extent of Rs.53000/- and the amount was credited in their accounts as per the directions of BD&PO Bhunerheri. Since the direction was given by the BD&PO Bhunerheri to OP no.2 for crediting an amount of Rs.27465/- in account no. 160236046100031 on 21/10/2014 and therefore, the amount was not transferred in the account of the complainant till 22/06/2015. On receiving the letter issued by BD&PO Bhunerheri, OP no.2 had immediately transferred the amount of Rs.2,27,465/- in the account of the complainant. As such there was no deficiency of service on the part of OP no.2.

5. It is further averred by the Ops that the complainant had written letter dt.15/07/2015 for awarding the interest only on the amount of Rs.2,27,465/- and on receipt of the said letter an amount of Rs.12982/- was credited in her account on 30/09/2015 and on 14/10/2015 a sum of Rs.1283/- on account of interest was credited and thereafter the account was transferred to ADC, Patiala for Rs.4,13,265/- which was outstanding in the account of the complainant. There was no deficiency of service on the part of the OPs, as the mistake tookplace on the part of the BD&PO Bhunerheri. Had there been any direction given by the BD&PO to credit the amount of Rs.2,27,465/-, the amount would have been credited in the account of the complainant on 21/10/2014. After controverting the other allegations of the complaint, going against the OPs, it was prayed to dismiss the complaint.

6. In support of her complaint, the complainant tendered in evidence Ex.CA her sworn affidavit along with documents Ex.C-1 to Ex.C-10 and her counsel closed the evidence. On the other hand on behalf of the Ops, their counsel tendered in evidence Ex.OPA, the sworn affidavit of Sh. Mukesh Kumar, Manager of OP no.2 along with documents Ex.OP-1 to Ex.Op-4 and closed their evidence.

7. OPs filed the written arguments. We have examined the same, heard the ld. counsel for the parties and gone through the evidence on record.

8. Ex.C-5 is the copy of the demand draft dt. 26/09/2014 issued by Union Bank of India, branch Sultanpur Lodhi in favour of BD&PO Bhunerheri District Patiala for a sum of Rs.2,27,465/-. When the said draft was got encashed by the BD&PO Bhunerheri is not disclosed by the complainant. The complainant has produced Ex.C-8 the copy of letter no.888 dt. 21/10/2014 written by the BD&PO Bhunerheri, at Patiala to the Branch Manager of OP no.2 having forwarded the cheque no.000556 dt.21/10/2014 for a sum of Rs.4,45,476/- for crediting the particular amount in the specific accounts of Ms. Simarjit Kaur (complainant), Ms. Preeti Ghai and Sh. Manjit Singh as per the detail given below:-

Sr. No.	Name	Account no.	Amount
1	Simarjeet Kaur	160236046100031	27465
2	Preeti Ghai	160236046006252	165011
3	Manjit Singh	160236046004521	53000
		Gross Total	445476

 

9. Here it may be noted that no amount whatsoever was credited in the CPF account of the complainant by OP no.2 on the basis of said cheque no.000556 dt. 21/10/2014 as can be seen from the statement of account Ex.OP-4 of the complainant from May 2014 to Oct. 14^th, 2015 as also from Ex.C-7 the copy of the statement of account of the complainant for the period Sep. 2^nd, 2014 to Sep. 30^th, 2015.

10. By virtue of the letter Ex.C-8 dt. 21/10/2014 the BD&PO Bhunerheri had forwarded cheque no.000556 dt. 21/10/2014 for a sum of Rs.4,45,476/- but it appears that by way of inadvertence instead of writing the amount of Rs.2,27,465/- to be credited into the account of the complainant a figure of Rs.27.465/- was typed out. OP no.2 having received a cheque in a sum of Rs.4,45,476/- was required to deposit a sum of Rs.2,45,476/- i.e. Rs.27,465/- in the account of the complainant, Rs.1,65,011/- in the account of Ms. Preeti Ghai and a sum of Rs.53000/- in the account of Sh. Manjit Singh and in that way the OP no.2 had to explain the excess amount of Rs.2,00,000/-, which would not have been credited in any account out of the sundry account. It was explained by Sh. Manjit Singh, ld. counsel for the OP that earlier the amount of the cheque was credited into the sundry account and out of the same the different amounts were credited into the accounts of the persons mentioned in letter Ex.C-8 written by BD&PO Bhunerheri.

11. It is the plea taken up by the OPs that the amount of Rs.2,27,465/- was credited into the account of the complainant only on 30/09/2015 after receipt of the letter dt. 23/6/2015. Ex.C-9 is the letter written by BD&PO Bhunerheri to the Manager of OP no.2 but the same does not bear any number and date, in which it was mentioned that vide letter no.888 dt. 08/10/2014 while sending the cheque no.000556 dt. 21/10/2014, instead of amount of Rs.2,27,465/- a sum of Rs. 27,465/- was mentioned by way of mistake and therefore a request was made to credit an amount of Rs.2,27,465/- in the account no.160236046100031.

12. It is also the plea taken up by the OPs that an amount of interest of Rs.12,982 was credited in the account of the complainant on 30/09/2015 and further a sum of Rs.1283/- was credited by way of interest in her account on 14/10/2015.

13. On the other hand, it was simply submitted by Sh. J. S. Sabhiki, ld. counsel for the complainant that the complainant is entitled to the interest from the date of the deposit of cheque no.000556 sent by the BD&PO Bhunerheri to OP no.2 for Rs.4,45,476/- because OP no.2 retained the amount with it and failed to seek any clarification from BD&PO regarding the amount of Rs.2, 27,465/- lying in excess with it and OP no.2 made a use of the same.

14. We have considered the submissions. Here it may be noted that during the course of the arguments Sh. Manjit Singh ld. counsel for the OP stated that the amount of interest of Rs.12,982/- was credited into the account of the complainant on 30/09/2015 having calculated the same @ 8.75% per annum. We have calculated the amount of the interest on the said rate on the amount of Rs.2,27,465/- for the period 21/10/2014 to 30/09/2015, which comes out to Rs.18790/-. After taking into account the amount of interest of Rs.12982/- deposited into the account of the complainant on 30/09/2015 and further a sum of Rs.1284/- having been deposited in her account on 14/10/2015 as can be seen from Ex.OP-4, the statement of account, the OP is liable to pay Rs.4524/- more. We accordingly accept the complaint and direct OP no.2 to credit Rs.4524/- more in the account of the complainant within one month on receipt of the certified copy of the order. Complainant is also awarded a sum of Rs.15000/- by way of compensation on account of harassment and mental agony experienced by her on account of deficiency of service on the part of the OPs who despite having been got served with the legal notice Ex.C-1 dt.31/07/2015 failed to account for the amount of the interest and the said amount is inclusive of the cost of the complaint. Again the order in this regard be complied by the OPs within one month on receipt of the certified copy of the order.

Pronounced

Dated: 04/01/2016.

 

Neelam Gupta D. R. Arora

Member President