DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM: BHADRAK
Dated the 20th day of August, 2019
C.D Case No. 69 of 2017
Present 1. Shri Raghunath Kar, President
2. Shri Basanta Kumar Mallick, Member
3. Afsara Begum, Member
Harischandra Jena
S/o Late Krushna Chandra Jena
Vill/Po: Naami,
Ps: Bhandaripokhari
Dist: Bhadrak
……………………. Complainant
(Versus)
1. The Manager, Postal Life Insurance Department of Post
Bhadrak Head Post Office, Bhadrak
At/Po/Dist: Bhadrak
2. The Post Manager, Manjuriroad Post Office Branch,
At/Po: Manjuriroad,
Ps: Bhandaripokhari,
Dist: Bhadrak
3. The Post Master General, Bhubaneswar
At/Po: Bhubaneswar,
Dist: Khordha
…………………………..Opp. Parties
Counsel For Complainant: Sri N. C. Barik & Others, Adv
Counsel For the O.Ps: Sri D. P. Ray Mohapatra, Adv
Date of hearing: 07.02.2018
Date of order: 20.08.2019
RAGHUNATH KAR, PRESIDENT
This dispute arises out of the complaint filed by the complainant alleging deficiency of service and unfair trade practice against the O.Ps, that, the complainant has filed this case against the O.Ps for nonpayment of actual maturity amount of his P.L.I Policy No. OR 86561 C.S and for illegal deduction of Rs 5139,73/- from the P.L.I maturity amount and for non calculation of the interest since the date of maturity i.e. from 07.01.2017 to till the date of payment to the complainant. The complainant had opened one postal life insurance policy bearing No. OR 86561 C.S for the face value of Rs 1,00,000/- of which maturity value including Bonus Plus terminal bonus became Rs 1,94,640/- as on dt. 07.01.2017 and the said matter has been informed by the manager, Postal Life Insurance Department of Posts, Bhadrak Head Post Office Bhadrak the OP No. 1 to the complainant vide their letter No. OR 86561 dt. 03.02.2017. But in the said letter it has been mentioned that Rs 4,894.73p/- towards balance of outstanding amount on the previous loan principal O/S and Rs 245/- towards interest is all total Rs 5139.73p/- has been deducted from the said P.L.I maturity amount and the complainant is entitled to get only Rs 1,89,500.27p/- as on dt. 07.01.2017 copy of the said letter has been filed.
That, the complainant had borrowed a loan against the aforesaid P.L.I policy and according to the instructions of the Post Master, Manjuri Road Post Office (the OP No. 2) the complainant has already cleared up all the amount as on dt. 24.08.2015 from his salary. The details of loan amount and its payment has been mentioned as fallows.
Loan Account Number Bhadrak/L/P-131/13 Principal Loan Amount was Rs.
Payment Details
On dt. 14.08.2014 Rs 5000.00 (Interest)
On dt. 23.03.2015 Rs 5000.00 (Interest)
On dt. 20.08.2015 Rs 90,000.00 (Loan interest)
On dt. 24.08.2015 Rs 16,127.00 (Last payment as outstanding)
Total paid Rs 1,16,127/-
The complainant had borrowed Rs 6000/- against his P.L.I policy but he has paid the total outstanding loan amount and interest Rs 1,16,127/- but unfortunately when the P.L.I policy got matured the OP No. 2 has deducted Rs 5,139.73p/- from the P.L.I matured amount. The complainant received a letter from the OP No. 1 for the repayment of loan amount but he approached the OP No. 1 & 2 not to deduct Rs 5,139.73p/- from the actual maturity amount of his P.L.I policy vide No. OD 8651/CS but the OP No. 1 & 2 did not respond and consider the matter. At last the complainant sent a legal notice to the OP No. 1 to pay him the actual maturity amount of Rs 1,94,640/- and its interest since dt. 07.01.2017. But the OP No. 1 became heedless and carelessly avoided. The grievance of the complainant is that the OP No. 1 & 2 committed wrong and negligence in calculation of the loan amount and deducted Rs 5,139.73p/- from the matured amount of the P.L.I policy of the complainant. The OP No. 1 sent a letter to the complainant vide No. OR/86561 CS dt. 03.02.2017 and again sent another letter on dt. 26.04.2017 but the cause of action of this case arose on 03.02.2017 when the OP No. 1 sent the first letter to the complainant.
The complainant grievance is that the OP No. 1, 2 & 3 have caused gross negligence and deficiency of service towards the complainant, as a result of which the complainant sustained mental agony, harassment, financial loss and panick. Hence the complainant has sought for the following reliefs such as.
1. The O.Ps be directed to pay the total matured amount Rs 1,94,640/- along with his interest till the date of payment to the complainant towards his P.L.I policy without deduction of any amount from the maturity amount.
2. The O.Ps be directed to submit before the learned Forum details of the loan amount and its interest till dt. 26.08.2015 of loan vide A/c No. BDK L/P/131/13 of the complainant against the P.L.I policy No. OR-86561-CS.
3. The O.Ps be directed to pay Rs 20,000/- to the complainant towards his compensation for financial loss and mental agony.
3. Cost of this case be decreed in favour of the complainant.
List of the documents filed by the complainant (Xerox copies).
1. Sanction memo dt. 03.02.2017 as shown in Annexure- A/1.
2. The copy of the letter outstanding loan amount from the maturity value Annexure- 2.
3. Maturity calculation sheet.
4. Copy of the legal notice- 3 sheets.
5. CD Case No. 69/2017- 10 sheets.
6. Maturity calculation sheet Annexure- R/1- 1 sheet.
7. Second legal notice issued on 21.02.2017.
8. Letter to the manager P.L.I Bhadrak- 1 sheet.
9. Bond paper of issued by P.L.I- Annexure- 1.
10. Letter to the complainant from Department of Post, India, Office of Superintendent of Post, Bhadrak Division- Annexure- 2.
11. Five numbers of postal receipts- Annexure- 4.
The O.Ps have appeared through the standing counsel, Central Govt. and submitted their written version as follows. The O.Ps have challenged the cause of action as well as maintainability of this case. They have also denied the allegations of the complainant made in the complaint. The fact is that the P.L.I policy No. OR-86561-CS stands in the name of Sri Harish Chandra Jena the petitioner in this case with sum assured Rs 1,00,000/- (Rupees one lakh) only. Loan of Rs 1,00,000/- (Rupees one lakh) only was sanctioned in favour of the insurant on 14.02.2014 and after repayment of the loan amount with interest by the insurant, the original policy bond was reassigned and returned to the insurant on 02.11.2015. The due date of maturity of the said P.L.I policy was 07.01.2017. The insurant claimed for maturity value of the said P.L.I policy on 19.01.2017 and the maturity amount was sanctioned by the Manager, CPC-cum-Post Master, Bhadrak Head Post Office (OP No. 1) on 03.02.2017. They have also submitted that as per the maturity calculation sheet, the maturity value including bonus and terminal bonus came to Rs 1,89,500/-. A copy of the maturity calculation sheet is annexed as Annexure- R/1. It is to mention here that although the insurant had repaid the loan amount with interest, due to a technical error, the loan account could not be closed in the NIC software properly. When the policy has been migrated from old NIC software to the new McCamish software, the loan account also got migrated with outstanding loan amount Rs 4894.73/-. At the time of sanction of maturity value, it was noticed by the sanctioning authority that an amount of Rs 5,139.73/- (i.e. Rs 4,894.73/- as outstanding loan amount and Rs 245/- as interest for this outstanding loan amount) was deducted by the software as recovery towards outstanding loan amount and the net amount payable became Rs 1,84,360.27/- whereas the actual due amount payable to the insurant was Rs 1,89,500/-.As the insurant had already repaid the loan amount with interest and there was no outstanding loan amount against the insurant but due to the technical error, the software was deducting Rs 5139.73/- from the net payable amount. In order to provide the insurant his due amount, the sanctioning authority raised the total value in the maturity calculation sheet from Rs 1,89,500/- to Rs 1,94,640/- (i.e. raised the value by Rs 5140/-) as there was an option in the software to change the total value in the calculation sheet in case of any technical problem. When the total value in the maturity calculation sheet was raised from Rs 1,89,500/- to Rs 1,94,640/-, the net value payable after deduction of the loan outstanding amount became Rs 1,89,500.27/- which was the due amount to be paid to the insurant. Thus, by this way, the sanctioning authority sanctioned the actual amount due to be paid to the insurant i.e. Rs 1,89,500/- and the insurant did not suffer any loss due to the technical error caused during migration of the policy from old to new software. Accordingly, the OP No. 1 issued sanction memo dt. 03.02.2017 as shown in Annexure- A/1.
The O.Ps have further submitted that on 23.02.2017, the OP No. 1 got a letter from Sri Narayan Chandra Barik, Advocate Bhadrak Court dt. 21.02.2017 without any signature of the sender on it. In this letter, the advocate objected to the deduction of the outstanding loan mount from the maturity value and demanded to pay Rs 1,94,640/- to the insurant. A copy of this letter is annexed as Annexure- R/2. Within a few days, the insurant attended Bhadrak Head Post Office and objected before the OP No. 1 for deduction of the outstanding loan amount. Then, the insurant was supplied with the maturity calculation sheet and the OP No. 1 explained him about the technical error shown in the software and the manner of adjustment made in the table of the sanction memo so that the actual due amount was sanctioned in favour of the insurant and by this way the insurant did not suffer any financial loss due to this technical error caused during migration of the policy from old to new software. The insurant seemed satisfied with the clarification and returned with his sanction memo to take payment of the maturity value from Manjuri Road Post Office. As such, no action was felt to be taken in response to the unsigned letter dt. 21.02.2017 of Sri Narayan Chandra Barik, Advocate. The insurant after knowing from the OP No. 1 about the technical error from the old to new software and about the adjustment of the maturity amount in the sanction memo, made a plot to extract the under amount of Rs 5139.73/- from the O.Ps by filing the CD case. He waited till September, 2017 and did not receive payment of the maturity value from Manjuri Road Sub Post Office. He also did not make any correspondence with the O.Ps after his return from Bhadrak Head Post Office and remained silent for about 6 to 7 months and came up with this CD Case to establish the inaction of the O.Ps to pay him the maturity value with the aim of claiming Rs 20,000/- for compensation towards mental agony in the CD Case. Here, the petitioner is trying to take advantage of the technical error and to extract more amounts from the Department though he is not entitled for the same. That the averments made by the complainant in Pare- 2 admitted. Hence the O.Ps have sought for the dismissal of this complaint.
Documents filed by the O.Ps.
1. Maturity Calculation Sheet- Annexure- R/1- 1 Sheet.
2. Legal notice issued on behalf of the complainant dt. 21.02.2017- 2 Sheets.
OBSERVATION
We have already perused the complaint and written versions filed by the complainant and the O.Ps as well as the documents filed by them. The complainant has become aggrieved for the illegal deduction of Rs 5,139.73p/- from the P.I.L maturity amount and for non calculation of the interest since the date of maturity from 07.01.2017 to till the date of the payment to the complainant. The complainant opened a postal LIC policy bearing No. 86561 to the face value of Rs 1,00,000/- of which maturity value including terminal bonus became Rs 1,94,640/- as on dt. 07.01.2017. This said matter was informed by the manager LIC department of post, Head Post Office, Bhadrak vide letter No. OR86561 dt. 03.02.2017. But in the said letter it is mention that Rs 4894.73p/- towards balance of outstanding amount on the previous principal amount and Rs 245/- towards interest which is sum total Rs 5,139.73p/- has been deducted from PLI maturity amount and the complainant is entitled to Rs 1,79,500.27p/- as on dt. 06.07.2017. On the other wards the complainant had borrowed a loan against the aforesaid PLI policy and according to the instructions of the post master, Manjuri Road Post Office the OP No. 2. The complainant has already cleared up the loan amount on 24.08.2015 from his salary. But unfortunately the PLI policy was matured the OP No. 1 have deducted Rs 5,139.73p/- from the PLI maturity amount of the complainant. The complainant received the letter from the OP No. 1 had approached the OP No. 1 & 2 not to deduct Rs 5,139.73p/- from the actual maturity amount from the PLI policy vide No. 86561CS but the OP No. 1 & 2 did not consider of the requests of the complainant. The complainant issued a legal notice against the OP No. 1 but the said advocate did not sign and put the date on the face of the legal notice so the said unsigned legal notice shall not be treated as a piece of evidence. The O.Ps took their stands that the maturity value including bonus and terminal bonus came to the tune of Rs 1,89,500/-. Although the insurant had repaid the loan amount with interest but due to technical error the loan account could not be closed in the NIC software properly. When the policy has been migrated from old NIC software to the new McCamish software the loan account also but migrated with outstanding loan amount Rs 4894.73p/-. The admission of the O.Ps in their written version although the loan repaid by the complainant but it could not be adjusted in their system. It is a prima facie case deficiency of service caused by the O.Ps towards the complainant. Hence it is ordered;
- ORDER
The complaint be and the same is allowed on part against the O.Ps. The O.Ps are here by directed to pay the complainant the actual and the total maturity amount Rs 1,94,640/- towards his PLI policy bearing policy No. OR86561 C.S. without deduction of any amount. The O.Ps are further directed to pay Rs 5,000/- towards the mental agony and harassment of the complainant, as well as Rs 5,000/- towards the cost of the litigation to the complainant. The O.Ps are also directed to carry out the same within 30 days on receipt copy of the order failing which interest 12% P.A shall be imposed upon the O.Ps.
This order is pronounced in the open Forum on this day of 20th August, 2019 under my hand and seal of the Forum.
