DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM-II U.T. CHANDIGARH Complaint Case No.: 96 of 2010 Date of Inst: 17.02.2010 Date of Decision:28.02.2011 Mr.Sanjay Mahajan c/o Bombay Traders, SCO 21, Sector 17-E, Chandigarh ---Complainant V E R S U S 1. The Manager, City Bank, SCO 132-134, Sector 9-C, Madhya Marg, Near Citco Petrol Pump, Chandigarh-160017. 2. The Manager, City Bank, Global Consumer Bank, Jeevan Bharti Building, 124, Cannaught Circus, New Delhi-110001 ---Opposite Parties QUORUM SHRI LAKSHMAN SHARMA PRESIDENT SMT.MADHU MUTNEJA MEMBER PRESENT: Sh.Sandeep Bhardwaj, Adv. for complainant Sh.Munish Goel, Adv. for OPs. --- PER LAKSHMAN SHARMA, PRESIDENT Sh.Sanjay Mahajan has filed this complaint under section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 praying therein that OPs be directed to :- i) Credit an amount of Rs.6720/- in the account of the complainant and issue No Due Certificate. ii) Withdraw the illegal demand of Rs.6720/- iii) Pay a sum of Rs.50,000/- as compensation for mental agony and harassment. iv) Pay a sum of Rs.11000/- as litigation expenses. 2. In brief, the case of the complainant is that he was issued credit card No.5546 37908117 5000 by OP but the terms and conditions regarding the rate of interest and usage of the card were not disclosed to him. On 26.06.2007 and 05.07.2007, the complainant made purchases at Airport for Rs.6917/- . The complainant paid the said amount vide pay order no.435537 dated 26.07.07 drawn on PNB, Sector Chandigarh and dropped the same in the drop box of OP-1. But the said amount was not credited in his account and rather the same was shown due from him in the subsequent statements dated 22.08.07, 22.09.07 and 24.10.07 (Annexure C-2 to C-5). Ultimately, the complainant requested OPs and even wrote a letter dated 24.11.2007 (Annexure C-6) and email dated 11.01.2008 (Annexure C-7) for correcting the statement of accounts as he had already made the payment of Rs.6917/- through pay order dated 26.07.07. It has been pleaded by the complainant that OP told him that they could not present the pay order for payment and therefore, he was requested to get a certificate from the bank to this effect. The complainant accordingly got issued the certificate and sent the same to OPs vide registered letter dated 17.01.08 (Annexure C-8). It has further been pleaded by the complainant that he got issued the duplicate pay order No.435537 dated 26.07.07 for Rs.6920/- on the request of OPs and sent the same to them through registered letter dated 20.02.2008 (Annexure C-10) but OPs did not encash the duplicate demand draft also on the ground of “stale cheque” and rather closed the credit card w.e.f. 22.02.2008. It has been pleaded by the complainant that he issued the revalidated draft to the OPs on 15.01.2009 and thereafter another draft on 18.08.2009 but the same were not encashed by the OPs for the reasons best known to them. OPs reiterated the demand of said amount along with interest and other charges. Ultimately, the complainant got served OPs with a registered A.D. notice dated 11.11.2009 (Annexure C-17) to withdraw the illegal demand. The complainant was offered to make payment of Rs.5442.27P for reversal of all other debit entries. According to the complainant, he did not use the credit card except for the purchase of Rs.6917.64P and Rs.2499.32 against which the payment of Rs.2500/- is admitted. The case of the complainant is that he is not liable to pay any interest or other charges on Rs.6920/- because the demand draft was not got encashed by OPs themselves although he had given the same to OPs twice. In these circumstances, the present complaint was filed seeking the reliefs mentioned above. 3. In the written statement filed by OPs, it has been admitted that the complainant dropped the pay order bearing No 435537 dated 26.07.2007 for Rs.6920/- in the drop-box without mentioning the valid credit card No and the details of the issuer due to which it could not be credited into the account of the complainant and the same was instead sent to it's Records Management Unit (RMU) for storage. It has been pleaded that OP came to know about the details of the issuer of the aforesaid pay order and the credit card number of the complainant when it had received a letter from him seeking clarification about the non-credit of the pay order in his credit card a/c in the month of January, 2008. Thereafter OP had retrieved this discrepant pay order from it's Record Management Unit and had intimated the complainant for non-credit of the amount of the pay order in his credit card a/c and further requested him to send a duplicate and revalidated pay order mentioning the valid credit card number. It has been pleaded that the duplicate pay order was duly received by it in the month of January, 2008, however, the same could not be credited into the card a/c of the complainant because the pay order became STALE since the original pay order was issued on 26/7/07 and pay orders are valid for 6 months only and the complainant has failed to get the same revalidated before issuing the duplicate pay order. According to the OP, the complainant has failed to send any revalidated pay order in spite of repeated requests till date. It has further been pleaded that the complainant was offered to make a payment of Rs.6,920/- vide letter dated 18.08.2009 towards the full and final settlement but to no effect. In these circumstances, according to OP, there is no deficiency in service on its part and the complaint deserves dismissal. 4. We have heard the learned counsel for the parties and have gone through the entire record including documents, annexures, affidavits etc. 5. Admittedly, the complainant dropped pay order No.435537 dated 26.07.07 for Rs.6917/- drawn on PNB, Sector Chandigarh in the drop box of OP-1 for crediting the same from his account. Admittedly, the said amount of Rs.6917/- has not been credited into the account of the complainant so far. The learned counsel for the OPs argued that the amount of Rs.6917/- could not be credited into the account as the complainant failed to mention the valid credit card no. and the other details of the issuer of the pay order. However, OPs have failed to produce on record the copy of the aforesaid pay order to support the aforesaid version. Furthermore, there is nothing on record to prove that any letter was issued to the complainant to do the needful till the OPs got the letter from the complainant. 6. Learned counsel for the complainant argued that it was the complainant who got issued the duplicate pay order No.435537 dated 26.07.07 for Rs.6920/- on the request of OPs and sent the same through registered letter dated 20.02.2008 (Annexure C-10) but despite this OPs failed to encash the duplicate demand draft on the ground of “stale cheque” and rather closed the credit card w.e.f. 22.02.2008. 7. Faced with this situation, it has been argued by the learned counsel for the OPs the complainant has failed to send the revalidated pay order inspite of their repeated requests. On other hand, the complainant has filed his detailed affidavit specifically deposing therein that he had got issued the revalidated draft and sent the same to OPs not only on 15.01.209 but also on 18.08.2009. Despite that OPs have failed to credit the amount of Rs.6920/- into his account and therefore, OPs are themselves deficient in not crediting the amount into his account and hence, he could be made liable to pay any interest or other charges on Rs.6920/-. The complainant has further placed on record the copy demand draft No.711686 dated 15.01.2009 for Rs.6920/- (Annexure C-14) issued in favour of the OP-Bank. In these circumstances, it is crystal clear from the evidence led by the complainant that OPs are themselves deficient in not crediting the amount of Rs.6920/- into the account of the complainant and OPs cannot be allowed to take benefits of their own wrongs. In these circumstances, the present complaint deserves success. 8. In view of the above findings, this complaint is allowed with a direction to OPs to accept the demand draft of Rs.6920/- from the complainant without any interest and charges and issue no due certificate to the complainant in respect of the credit card account in the name of the complainant on receipt of the said amount. Besides this, OPs are also directed to pay Rs.10,000/- to the complainant as compensation for mental agony and harassment besides Rs.7000/- as costs of litigation. 9. This order be complied with by OPs within one month from the date of receipt of its certified copy, failing which the OPs shall be liable to pay Rs.10,000/- to the complainant along with penal interest @ 18% p.a. from the date of filing of the complaint till its realization besides costs of litigation as also comply with the rest of the order. 10. Certified copy of this order be communicated to the parties, free of charge. After compliance file be consigned to record room. Announced 28.02.2011 Sd/- (LAKSHMAN SHARMA) PRESIDENT cm (MADHU MUTNEJA) MEMBER
| | MR. A.R BHANDARI, MEMBER | HONABLE MR. LAKSHMAN SHARMA, PRESIDENT | MRS. MADHU MUTNEJA, MEMBER | | 
