This complaint is filed by the Complainant u/S 35 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.

 The Complainant is present in person. Today is fixed for hearing of this complaint on the point of its admissibility. We have carefully perused the petition of complaint as well as heard the Complainant on the point of admission of the complaint.

It is seen by us that the Complainant opened one current account with the OP for starting her business and paid one cheque. It is stated by the Complainant that without explaining her detailed of the terms and the conditions of such account the officer of the OP-Bank had collected her signature on an application along with the cheque. Subsequently some problem had been cropped up in respect of the said current account. As the said problem and dispute had not been resolved by the OP-Bank, hence the Complainant has approached before this Ld. Commission by filing this complaint.

We have noticed that for business purpose the Complainant had opened the said current account with the OP-Bank. In the Section 7 (ii) of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, it is enumerated which runs as follows-

‘Consumer means any person who hires or avails of any service for a consideration which has been paid or promised or partly paid and partly promised, or under any system of any deferred payment and includes any beneficiary of such service other than the person who hires or avails of the services for consideration paid or promised, or partly paid and partly promised, or under any system of deferred payment, when such services are availed of with the approval of the first mentioned person, but does not include a person who avails of such service for any commercial purpose.’

Having regard to the abovementioned Section of the CP Act, 2019 we are to say that in the case in hand also the Complainant had availed of service of the Bank for her business purpose. So the present complaint cannot be maintainable before this Ld. Commission as the Complainant is not a consumer within the purview of the definition of ‘Consumer’.

Going by the foregoing discussion hence, it is ordered that the Consumer Complaint being no- CC/116/2021 is hereby dismissed without being admitted being not maintainable before this Ld. Commission. There is no order as to cost.

As the complaint is not admitted hence the Complainant is at liberty to get return of the copy of the complaint along with the copies of the documents as filed by her at the time of filing this complaint. But for this purpose the Complainant has to submit an application before the appropriate authority of this Ld. Commission. The appropriate authority is directed to take immediate step upon receipt of the application from the Complainant so that the Complainant can get return of the aforementioned photocopies without any further delay.

Let plain copy of this order be given to the parties free of cost as per the CPR.

Dictated and corrected by

[HON'BLE MRS. Silpi Majumder]
MEMBER