DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM
SOUTH 24 – PARGANAS , AMANTRAN BAZAR, BARUIPUR, KOLKATA-700 0144
C.C. CASE NO. _407_ OF ___2015_
DATE OF FILING : 10.9.2015 DATE OF PASSING JUDGEMENT: 04/08/2017
Present : President : Udayan Mukhopadhyay
Member(s) : Subrata Sarker & Jhunu Prasad
COMPLAINANT : Biswajit Chattopadhyay, 83/4D, Bonomali Naskar Road, P.O & P.S Parnasree, Kolkata – 60.
-VERSUS -
O.P/O.Ps : The Manager, State Bank of India, Behala Branch, 1168/1, D.H Road, P.O Behala, P.S Parnasree, Kolkata – 34.
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J U D G E M E N T
Sri Udayan Mukhopadhyay, President
The short case of the complainant is that complainant is an account holder of State Bank of India, Behala Branch and having a good record of payment of House Building Loan which has been taken from the said Branch on 13.12.2000 and fully paid up. Subsequently the clearance certificate was given on 25.5.2015 ,copy enclosed. It is the further case of the complainant that on 6.6.2015 complainant issued a cheque to pay its Ward’s School Fee through Axis Bank, Behala Branch and the same have been processed by the Axis Bank, Behala Branch for clearing . But the school authority informed the complainant that the cheque have been dishonoured for reason stated in the Return Memo as fund insufficient and the Axis Bank Behala Branch charged a penalty of Rs.500/- on the school authority and the school ordered the complainant over telephone to pay the penalty immediately. In this circumstances complainant alleges that his savings Bank account was having a balance of Rs.9748.62 which is adequate for the amount of issued cheque of Rs.8800/- , for which question of insufficient fund does not arise and he has filed this case for compensation of Rs.50,000/- . Apart from that the bank charges of SBI,Behala Branch and Axis Bank, Behala Branch along with interest from the date of occurrence to the date of payment have been demanded.
The O.P Bank contested the case by filing written version and has claimed that the allegation of the complainant is being denied. It is the case of the O.P that complainant maintained SB Account no. 11170350016 since 2000 and the CIR80950318764 and the complainant has also a House Building Loan account no.11170698166 since 13.12.2000 . The positive case of the O.P Bank is that there is consistently SI failure in the Saving Bank Account on the date 18.7.2014, 18.8.2014, 18.1.2015, 18.4.2015, 9.6.2015 which resulted in the hold in the account by system. The O.P submits that hold in the account due to failure of SI to serve the EMI for the house building loan account resulted to non-availability of the free balance in S.B Account and nowadays the cheque was cleared by Centralised System and as there is SI Failure the cheque of Rs.8800/- has been dishonoured by the “Centralized System of the Banking Rule and there is no laches on the part of the O.P. The O.P Bank further submits that they have no knowledge about the closure of the house building loan account and as such they hold the EMI and there is no intention by this O.P to dishonor the cheque or to harass the complainant and due to fault of the system the O.P is no way deficient in services.
Point for decision in this case is whether there is any deficiency in service on the part of the O.P or not.
Decision with reasons
Admittedly complainant has a house building loan and as per bank’s certificate it was liquidated in full as on 18.5.2015. So, the cheque amount after the date of liquidation should be encashed, but instead of encashing the same due to laches of the system complainant suffered and unnecessary penalty was charged Rs.500/- by the Axis Bank, Behala Branch, that is why, complainant has been able to prove his case since the lack of supervision of the O.P Bank , the complainant’s prestige has gone away before the School Authority. So, it is unfortunate. If the system was not at all in operation, why the said system is effected, that is why due to laches of the O.P Bank the complainant has to suffer , particularly when the school fees of his ward was deposited through cheque.
Accordingly, it is
Ordered
That the application under section 12 of the C.P Act, 1986 is allowed on contest against the O.P Bank.
The O.P Bank is hereby directed to refund Rs.500/- ,which was charged by the Axis Bank due to their fault, along with compensation of Rs.500/-(five Hundred only) and litigation cost of Rs.1000/-(one thousand only) to the complainant within 30 days from the date of this order, failing which, complainant is at liberty to recover the amount through execution case.
Let a plain copy of this order be served upon the complainant free of cost and one copy be sent to the O.P through speed post.
Member Member President
Dictated and corrected by me
President
The judgment in separate sheet is ready and is delivered in open Forum. As it is ,
Ordered
That the application under section 12 of the C.P Act, 1986 is allowed on contest against the O.P Bank.
The O.P Bank is hereby directed to refund Rs.500/- ,which was charged by the Axis Bank due to their fault, along with compensation of Rs.5000/- and litigation cost of Rs.3000/- to the complainant within 30 days from the date of this order, failing which, complainant is at liberty to recover the amount through execution case.
Let a plain copy of this order be served upon the complainant free of cost and one copy be sent to the O.P through speed post.
Member Member President
