BEFORE THE DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM ::
KADAPA Y.S.R DISTRICT
PRESENT SRI V.C. GUNNAIAH, B.Com., M.L., PRESIDENT
SMT. K. SIREESHA, LADY MEMBER
SRI M.V.R. SHARMA, MEMBER
Tuesday, 8th December 2015
CONSUMER COMPLAINT No. 82 / 2014
Shaik Mahaboob Basha, S/o Shaik Kaasim Saheb,
aged 55 years, Muslim, Residing at D.No. 19/168,
Basavanna Bavi Street, Proddatur Town and Mandal,
Kadapa District. ….. Complainant.
Vs.
1. The Chief Manager, State Bank of India,
Proddatur Main Branch, Gandhi Road, Proddatur – 516 360,
Kadapa District.
2. The Asst. General Manager / Zonal Office,
Zonal Office, State Bank of India, Reniguntla Road,
Tirupati, Chittoor District. ….. Respondents.
This complaint coming on this day for final hearing on 19-11-2015 in the presence of Sri C. Shakeel Ahmmed & E. Hasham, Advocates for complainant and Sri S.R. Sriram Murthy, Advocate for R1 and R2 called absent and set exparte on 20-4-2015 and upon perusing the material papers on record, the Forum made the following:-
O R D E R
(Per Smt. K. Sireesha, Member),
1. Complaint filed under section 12 of the C.P. Act 1986.
2. The brief facts of the complaint are as follows:- The complainant is an NRI at Kingdom of Saudi Arabia working as Technician in a company for the past 15 years. He holds an NRE account with present No. 10558491986 corresponding to old Nos. NRE No. 5/828 and 01192013075 with the bank of R1. Apart from this NRE account the complainant and his wife Smt. Noorjahan jointly hold a SB Account bearing Account No. 10558354133 (corresponding to old No. 01190012633).
3. The complainant used to operate money transactions through his wife Smt. Noorjahan with the above two account numbers. While so on 28-7-200 an amount of Rs. 40,000/- was debited from the complainant’s NRE account without his efforts, knowledge and deliberations. He did not withdraw the said Rs. 40,000/- on that day from his NRE account he made so many telephonic calls t R1 from Saudi Arabia asking him about the said irregularity. The concerned officer of the bank of R1 who deals with the NRE account informed the complainant over pone that Rs. 40,000/- was debited from his NRE account on 28-7-2000 and the said amount was kept in a separate special term deposit on the same day creating the term deposit account No. 013930130755 in the name of the complainant. The complainant replied to the said officer that he did not make any such request to the bank either orally or in writing to debit the said amount from his NRE account and to deposit the same to special terms deposit account. But there was no proper reply from the said officer. Subsequently, also the complainant made enquiries with the bank of R1 about the missing of his 17-9-2010Rs. 40,000/- from his NRE account. But there was no any proper reply or action from R1. The complainant was very desperate as he was abroad and he could not consult the officer of the bank of R1 personally. The complainant visits India once in two years for vacation and in that way he contacted the R1 personally on 17-9-2010 and made enquiries with him about his missing amount of Rs. 40,000/- instead of rectifying the mistake made by the bank R1, gave two pages of bank account statement dt. 17-9-2010 which shows that Rs. 40,000/- of the complaint was debited from his NRE account on 28-7-2000 and the same was deposited with a Special Term Deposit account creating an account No. 013930130755 and the said amount became payable on 18-8-2001 with a sum of Rs. 43,723/- after maturity and the said matured amount was credited on 18-8-2001 to SB Account No. 01190013075 showing the same pertaining to the complainant and an endorsement was made on the 2nd page of the statement as pertains to SB joint account of the complainant and his wife i.e. account No. 10558354133.
4. It is further submitted that actually the complainant or his wife does not hold any account with account No. 01190013075 in the bank of R1 in the said statement it was also shown that out of matured amount of Rs. 43,723/-, Rs. 2000/- was debited on 29-8-2001 and Rs. 41,000/- was debited on 15-9-2001 from the said account number 01190013075. In the 2nd page of the said statement, the corresponding new account number was not mentioned and instead the R1 endorsed the new account number of the complainant and his wife as corresponding new account Number to the said account number indeed SB Account No. 01190013075 does not pertain to the complainant individually or complainant and his wife jointly and that the complainant has only the NRE account with the bank of R1 and he and his wife jointly hold only one SB account No. 10558354133 with the bank of R1 and that the complainant individually does not hold any SB account particularly account No. 01190013075 in the bank of R1.
5. It is further submitted that on 13-11-2006 and on 27-8-2010 the complainant also addressed letters to R1 to do justice to him but there was no proper action from R1 in order to ascertain what was the real problem with the bank of R1 the complainant through his letter dt. 12-9-2013 sought information from R1 as to how many account he was with the bank under right to information act 2005. In answer it, the R1 through his letter F.No. dt. 16-9-2013 gave information that the complainant has three account namely 1) 10558357383, 2) 10558491986 and 3) 10558354133 of which Sl. No. 2 is the complainant’s NRE account and sl. No. 3 is the joint account of the complainant and his wife. But Sl. No. 1 does not belong to the complainant individually or the complainant and his wife jointly. Later the complainant addressed a letter dt. 22-10-2013 to the Regional Manager, Region – IV, State Bank of India, Kadapa seeking the copy of account opening application form and the documents submitted pertaining to account number 10558357383, which is not at all the account of the complainant or his wife along with the copy of the statement of said account. In turn the Regional Manager concerned through his letter dt. 31-10-2013 informed that the said copies of the documents cannot be parted with as per the banks laid down instructions and in the said letter, the said account number was shown as belonging to the complainant. Consequently, the complainant through his letter dt. 29-11-2013 sought the said information from the General Manager, network – III, State Bank of India, local head office, Koti Hyderabad. In response to the said letter to the complainant received information form the Regional Manager, Region-IV State bank of India, Kadapa as per the directions given to him by the General Manager, network-III, State Bank of India, Koti Hyderabad, through his letter dt. 22-2-2014 and the said information reveals that the complainant has also a SB Account with No. 10558357383 apart from his NRE and joint account and the said information includes a statement of account of the said account number. The said statement does not reveal the credit of matured amount of Rs. 43,723/- to the said account. The information also includes the statement of NRE account of the complainant and the joint account of the complainant and his wife and surprisingly the debit of Rs. 40,000/- from the complainant’s NRE account was not shown in those statements. In the meanwhile, the General Manager, Local Head Office, Koti Hyderabad also collected the available information from the Bank of R1 and sent the same to the complainant directly by registered post and this information also shows the account No. 10558357383 as belongs to the complainant. This information also includes the statement of NRE account of the complainant and joint account of the complainant and his wife and the SB Account number 10558357383, which is not belongs to the complainant. In those statements also, the matured amount of Rs. 43,723/- to the NRE account of the complainant and the joint account of the complainant and his wife was not shown. The credit of Rs. 43,723/- to the account number 10558357383 was also not shown in those statements.
6. It is further submitted that the person, who owns account number 10558357383 corresponding to old account number 01190013075 or 011900130755 transacted with the bank of R1 on 20-7-2011, 13-8-2011 and 02-11-2011 as per the statements provided by the General Manager, Local Head Office, Hyderabad. During this period the complainant was abroad and he never transacted through the said account number.
7. The respondents have not proof that the missing amount of Rs. 40,000/- of the complainant was credited to NRE account of the complainant or the joint account to the complainant and his wife. The respondents also have no proof that the account number 10558357383 corresponding old number 01190013075 or 0119001307500 belong to the complainant. The complainant issued legal notice dt. 11-9-2013 to the respondents calling upon them to returns the missing amount of the complainant with interest along with the compensation to him for the mental agony and harassment undergone by him instead of repaying the missing amount and compensating the respondents issued reply notice dt. 11-10-2013 with false allegations and with a statement that the claim of compensation is barred by limiatin.
8. It is further submitted that R1 debited Rs. 40,000/- from the complainant’s NRE account on 28-7-2000 without the knowledge or consent of the complainant and so far the respondents have not returned the said amount of the complainant in spite of requests made by the complainant. The respondents breached the bond of the banker and the customer and they did not do what is needful to the complainant. On the other hand, they gave reply notice that the claim of the complainant is barred by limitations. However, in order to give an opportunity to the respondents to restore their relationship with the complainant he issued a legal notice dt. 15-9-2014 to respondents stating that the claim is not barred by limitation and again calling upon them to make good for the loss sustained by the complainant. But so far, the respondents did not choose either to make good the loss incurred by the complainant or to give any reply notice. Hence, the complainant is constrained to file the present complainant as there is gross deficiency of services on the part of the respondents being the bankers of the complainant.
9. Therefore, prayed that the Hon’ble forum may be pleased to (a) direct the respondents to pay an amount of Rs. 40,000/- with interest at 24% p.a. from 28-7-2000 (b) to direct the respondents to pay Rs. 30,000/- towards the deficiency of service, (c) to direct the respondents to pay compensation of Rs. 10,000/- to the complainant towards the compensation for the mental agony, harassment and hardship undergone by the complainant at the hands of the respondents since, 20-8-2000 and € to pass any such other reliefs as the Hon’ble forum deed fit and proper in the circumstances of the case in the interest of justice.
10. Counter filed by R1 that the compliant is bad, unjust and not sustainable either in law or on facts of the case. The complainant is put to strict proof of all the allegations that those which are expressly admitted herein by this respondent.
11. At the outset the instant complaint is a tissue of lies and it has been filed to harass this respondent. It is a fact that the complainant maintains NRE account bearing No. 10558491986 in this respondent bank and it is falsely state that an amount of Rs. 40,000/- was withdrawn on 28-7-2000 from the account of complainant without the knowledge of the complainant. It is further false to say that the complainant made so many telephonic calls to this respondent bank from Saudi Arabia. It is submitted that the complainant’s account was debited only as per the instructions of the customer and issued a TDR for Rs. 40,000/- on 28-7-2000. It is false to say that the complainant did not make that request to the bank officials to debit the amount lying in NRE account and to deposit the same in a special term deposit receipt. It is submitted that since the credits into NRE accounts could not be made with the local funds the matured profits of the TDR of Rs. 43,723/- was credited to his another account No. 01190013075 Bank master 10558357372 CBS on 18-8-2001. It is further submitted that the complainant himself withdraw Rs. 2,000/- on 29-8-2001 through his account 01190013075 bank master 10558357372 CBS. It is further false to say that the complainant made enquiries with the R1 and that there was no proper reply or R1 could not take any action. The remaining allegations mentioned in para – 4 of the complaint are all false and pressed into service for the purpose of this complaint. It is submitted that the account No. 01190013075 Bank master and 10558357372 CBS relate to the complainant account only as the account is in the name of CIF number of his NRE account and the address is as same. It is further submitted that the corresponding account number of the bank master number 01190013075 is 10558357372 CBS and not 10558357378. It is further submitted that the account number 10558357383 also belongs to the complainant Shaik Mahaboob Basha, containing the same address and also same CIF number. The allegations mentioned in para – 5 of the complaint are all false. It is further submitted that this respondent’s bank through its panel advocate gave suitable reply to the legal notice dt. 11-9-2013 issued by the complainant through his advocate. Apart from tat this respondent bank has also replied to the complainant when he sought information under Right to Information act. It is submitted that the complainant despite giving proper reply and providing information by this respondent bank unnecessarily throwing blame with sinister design. The allegations mentioned in pras – 5 to 10 of the complaint are all false, frivolous and coined for the purpose of this unjust complaint. As per the rules of Reserve Bank of India, the banks cannot preserve its records for more than 8 years and the records pertaining to the year 2000 and 2001 are not available with this respondent bank. It is submitted that the complainant after lapse of nearly 13 years approached this respondent bank stating that Rs. 40,000/- was withdrawn from his account without his knowledge. It is submitted that the state bank of India is a biggest bank in India and it has got branches all over world and it never encourages any fraudulent transactions. It is submitted that the claim of the complainant after lapse of 13 years is time barred. As per section 24 – A of the C.P. Act, 1986 the instant complaint is barred by limitation as the same is filed beyond 2 years from the date of alleged withdrawal of amount from the account of the complainant. This respondent bank has not committed any deficiency of service as contended by the complainant. The claim of the complainant for refund of Rs. 40,000/- with interest at 24% p.a. from 28-7-2000 is not tenable since the complainant himself withdraw the said amount. As this respondent has not committed any deficiency of service the question of payment of Rs. 30,000/- towards deficiency of service and Rs. 10,00,000/- towards compensation for mental agony, harassment etc., does not arise and the claim of complainant is absurd, ridiculous and unethical. By no stretch of imagination the complainant is entitled to the reliefs sought for by him the instant complaint is devoid of merits and it is liable to be dismissed din limini.
12. Therefore, this respondent prays that the Hon’ble forum may be pleased to dismiss the instant complaint with exemplary costs in the interest of justice.
13. Respondent No. 2 called absent and set exparte on 20-4-2015.
14. On the basis of the above pleadings the following points are settled for determination.
i. Whether the complainant is eligible for compensation or not?
ii. Whether there is negligence or deficiency of service on the part of the Respondents or not?
iii. To what relief?
15. On behalf of complainant Exs. A1 to A16 were marked and on behalf of respondents Exs. B1 to B6 were marked.
16. Point Nos. 1 & 2. As per complaint the complainant was having NRE account bearing No. 10558491986 with R1 bank corresponding to old Nos. NRE No. 5/828 and 01192013075. Apart from that the complainant is having one of the account with his wife bearing Account No. 10558354133 (corresponding to old No. 01190012633). As per version of the complainant on 28-7-2000 an amount of Rs. 40,000/- was debited from complainant’s NRE account without his knowledge. But it clearly shows that it was happened 14 years before filing of this complaint. From these 14 years why the complainant kept quiet. The complainant had issued legal notice on 11-9-2013 under Ex. A12 for the same the respondents issued reply notice under Ex. A13. The complainant had taken limitation period from the issuing of legal notice under Ex. A12. But here issuing of legal notice and reply notice dates does not save the limitation as per section 24 A of C.P. Act 1986. There is limitation under C.P. Act 1986 to file the complaint is only two years, from the date of incident. But here the complainant waited for 14 years and it creates lot of suspicion on the part of the transactions of the complainant with the respondents bank. As per documents filed by the R1, Exs. B1 to B6, all the transactions belong to the complainant was done under the account No. 01192013075. All the account numbers held the same address of the complainant. So there is no chance to debit the amount in to other account. The banks have strict rules and regulations they will act very cautiously when dealings with the amounts. Under these circumstances the complainant utterly failed to prove his case within the time. The complaint is barred by limitation under section 24 A of C.P. Act 1986. So there is no deficiency of service on the part of the respondents 1 & 2. The complainant is not eligible for any compensation as prayed by him.
17. Point No. 3. In the result, the complaint is dismissed without costs.
Dictated to the Stenographer, transcribed by him, corrected and pronounced by us in the open Forum, this the 8th December 2015.
MEMBER MEMBER PRESIDENT
APPENDIX OF EVIDENCE
Witnesses examined.
For Complainant : NIL For Respondents : NIL
Exhibits marked for Complainant: -
Ex: A1 Statement Dt. 18-9-2012 by the Respondent no.1.
Ex: A2 Letter of the Complainant dated 13-11-2006 addressed to the R1
Ex: A3 Letter of the Complainant dated 27-8-2010 addressed to the R1
Ex: A4 O/c of letter dated 12-9-2013 of the complainant addressed to the Respondent no.1 under the Right to information Act.
Ex: A5 Letter F.No.20/RTI, Dt.16-9-13 addressed by the R1 to the complainant.
Ex: A6 Office copy of the letter dated 22-10-2013 of the complainant addressed to the Regional Manager, Region-IV S.B.I., Cuddapah under RTI Act.
Ex: A7 Letter of the Regional Manager, Cuddapah dated 31-10-2013 addressed to the complainant.
Ex: A8 Office copy of the letter dated 29-11-2013 of the complainant addressed to the General Manager, Net work-III, SBI, local head office, Koti, Hyderabad.
Ex: A9 Letter of Regional Manager, Cuddapah dated 22-2-2013 addressed to the
complainant along with the statement.
Ex: A10 Letter of the General Manager, Local Head Office, Hyderabad dated 15-2-2014 addressed to the complainant along with the statements.
Ex: A11 The attested copies of the passport of the complainant.
Ex: A12 Office copy of the legal notice, Dt. 11-9-2013 issued by the complainant to the Respondents.
Ex: A13 Reply notice dated 11-10-2013 issued by the Respondents to the complainant.
Ex: A14 Office copy of the legal notice, Dt. 15-9-2013 issued by the complainant to the Respondents.
Ex: A15 P/c of Pass book of complainant issued by the S.B.I. Proddatur
Ex: A16 P/c of the Voter I.D. of the Third Party i.e., Mahabub Basha Shaik.
Exhibits marked on behalf of the Respondent. No.1.
Ex: B1 Statement of Transaction relating to complainant
bearing No.01192013075.
Ex:B2 Statement of Transaction relating to complainant bearing
No.01190013075.
Ex:B3 Account details of complainant bank.
Ex:B4 Letter addressed by the Respondent Bank to Regional Manager, SB.I. , L.C.P.C. Chennai, Dt. 2-7-2015.
Ex:B5 Letter sent by the Regional Manager, S.B.I., L.C.P.C. Chennai, to the
Respondent Bank, Dt. 6-7-2015.
Ex:B6 X/c of Account Opening form issued by the Respondent bank.
MEMBER MEMBER PRESIDENT
Copy to :-
1) Sri C. Shakeel Ahmmed & E. Hasham, Advocates for complainant.
2) Sri S.R. Sriram Murthy, Advocate for R1.
3) The Asst. General Manager / Zonal Office, Zonal Office, State Bank of India, Reniguntla Road, Tirupati, Chittoor District
B.V.P.
