Sri Shyamal Gupta, Member

Present Appeal is directed against the Order dated 16-11-2016 passed by the Ld. District Forum, Kolkata-II (Central) in CC/519/2016, whereof the complaint has been dismissed.

Case of the Complainant, in short, is that, owing to furnishing of negative report about his credit worthiness by the OP Nos. 1 & 2, the OP Nos. 3 and 4 refused to sanction any loan to him.  It is claimed by the Complainant, in the report provided to him by the OP Nos. 1&2 that, there was no mention of any negative remark about himself.  Aggrieved by the fact that the OP Nos. 1&2 furnished dissimilar reports to different quarters, the complaint was filed before the Ld. District Forum.

It appears that the instant case was dismissed at the admission stage itself by the Ld. District Forum.

Decision with reasons

We have heard the Ld. Advocates of the parties and gone through the documents on record.

Ld. Advocate for the Respondent Nos. 1&2 argued that the complaint petition is not maintainable against them as there was no privity of contract between the Appellant and the Respondent Nos. 1&2.  He further stated that Banks and Financial Institutions are members of CIBIL and the records of the borrowers are maintained at the instance of Member Institution.  The fee paid by the Appellant was limited to obtaining of a copy of the CIBIL Report, which was duly provided to him.  The fees charged for providing a copy of the report, according to the Ld. Advocate, did not amount to payment of consideration for maintaining the record.  Thus, the Ld. Advocate averred that the Appellant does not qualify to be a consumer of these Respondents. 

Ld. Advocate appearing on behalf of the Appellant vehemently opposed such contention of the Respondent Nos. 1&2.  By furnishing a copy of email, he contended that, on payment of necessary service charge for a sum of Rs. 500/-, the Appellant obtained a copy of the CIBIL report and therefore, he is a bona fide consumer of the Respondent No. 1 & 2.

As we know, Credit information Bureau India Ltd. or CIBIL is the repository of information which is pooled in from all Banks and lending Institutions operating in India. It is a composite credit bureau, which caters to both commercial and consumer segments.  On thoughtful consideration of the function of this organization it appears to us that mere payment of due charges for obtaining CIBIL report does not tantamount to hiring of services.  Therefore, the Appellant cannot be classified as a ‘consumer’.

On this score alone, the complaint case was not maintainable before the Ld. District Forum.  Therefore, dismissal of the complaint case appears to be fully in order.

The Appeal, accordingly, fails.

Hence,

O R D E R E D

The Appeal stands dismissed against the Respondents without any cost.  The impugned order is hereby affirmed. Appellant shall be at liberty to approach the appropriate Court of Law, if he desires so.  In that case, he may be entitled to the benefit of the observation of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Laxmi Engineering Works v. P.S.G. Industrial Institute, II (1995) CPJ 1 (SC) for the purpose of exclusion of the time spent in pursuing his case under the 1986 Act so far.