Filed On: 17.03.2011
Disposed On: 24.06.2015
DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM, THIRUVALLUR
PRESENT; THIRU. S. PANDIAN, B.Sc., L.L.M., : PRESIDENT
TMT. S. SUJATHA, B.SC., : MEMBER-I
THIRU. V. VENKATESAN, M.A.B.Ed., MBA. M.PHIL.B.L., : MEMBER-II
Wednesday, the day of 24th June - 2015
CC. No. 12/2011
R. AArthi
Rep. by her Father Mr. V. Raman
No. 31, Thiruvallur Street
Nageswarar Colony C.I,
Mukunda Flat
Chennai – 600 049. ...Complainant
-Vs-
M/s. ICICI Bank Ltd.,
Credit Card Division
Plot No. 24, South Phase
Ambattur Industrial Estate Phase –II
Chennai – 600 058
Rep, by its Manager/Collections. …Opposite Party
Counsel For Complainant : Mr. N.E. Ramesh, Advocate
Counsel For Opposite party : M/s. A. Latha Maheswari, Adovate
The Complaint is coming upon before us finally on16.6.2015 in the presence of the counsel on the side of the complainant initially Mr. N.E. Ramesh, Advocate and M/s. A. Latha Maheswari, Advocate appeared on the side of the Opposite party, and upon hearing arguments on the side of the Complainant an perused the documents and evidence, this Forum delivered the following,
ORDER
PRONOUNCED BY THIRU. S. PANDIAN, PRESIDENT:
This complaint has been filed by the complainant under section 12(1) of the Consumer Protection Act 1986, against the Opposite Party for seeking direction to pay a sum of Rs. 20,0000/- as damages towards the mental agony and financial loss suffered by the complainant.
The brief facts of the complaint as follow:
The complainant had credit card facilities with the opposite party’s bank under credit card No. 5176 5350 0004 5007, and she had been using the same without any default in payment of the same. In the meanwhile, the said matter was referred to Lok Adalat by Tamil Nadu State Legal Services Authority and during the proceedings before the Adalat and after discussion, complainant’s father was agreed to settle the amount of Rs.43,000/- in three monthly installments namely Rs.14,000/- by cash on or before 07.07.2010, Rs.14,000/- by cash on or before 07.08.2010 and last payment of Rs.15,000/- by way of cash on 07.09.2010. As per aforesaid agreement the complaint paid Rs. 6000/- on 18.08.2010, Rs.14,000/- on 09.07.2010 and another sum of Rs. 22,000/- on 07.09.2010, respectively to the opposite party Bank and he had receipts for such payments made by her and thus she cleared and complied with the agreed to amount as per Lok Adalat settlement.
2. Thereafter, the representative of the opposite party used phone up to her through the said phone and they used unparliamentarily towards her and her family members and also threatened and this has been doing the representatives of the opposite party for the past 50 days towards the complainant. The opposite party without any prior notice or information to her, they taken steps and attached her salary by way of illegal and wrongful information to her garnishee with the result, her salary was with held without any justifiable cause or notice or information to her and also September 2010 salary was credited on 29.09.2010, towards her said credit card. Since, the opposite party had withheld her salary the EMI cheque bounced and become a CIBIL Customer and hence she is not eligible to any loans. The said action taken by the opposite party is illegal and against the principle of natural justice and caused mental agony and sufferings. The complainant issued a legal notice dated. 17.11.2010, and even though they received the notice but not complied with the demands made in the said notice. Hence, she constrained to file the complaint.
The averments of the Written Version of the Opposite Party is as brief as follows:
3. The complaint is not maintainable either in law or on facts and is liable to be dismissed inliminie. The complainant signed an agreement for utilizing the credit card facilities of the ICICI Bank Limited subject to the terms and conditions incorporated in the agreement. The transactions between the complainant and the opposite parties is one of contract, subject to the conditions that in case of failure to pay for the services availed by her within the prescribed period she will be charged interest and penal interests per guidelines from RBI, to ensure that the money is promptly paid. Once the credit card is used the cardholder is under obligation to pay the amount outstanding shown in the monthly statement furnished to him, which is based on usage. Having received the credit card services, based on agreement to abide by certain conditions, the complainant is stopped from going back on that. Owing to irregular monthly payments which includes late fee charges, penal charges, interests, service tax etc. in june 2010 a sum of Rs.63,695/- was due from the complainant to the opposite party.
4. In response to summons for Lok Adalat held on 21.06.2010 a settlement was arrived at between the complainant and the opposite party whereby the complainant agreed agreed to pay Rs.14,000/- by cash on or before 07.07.2010, Rs.14,000/- by cash on or before 07.08.2010 and last payment of Rs.15,000/- by way of cash on 7.9.2010. However she did not adhere to the dates of settlement and paid the first installments belatedly. It is highly misleading since the opposite party had not obtained any garnishee order from any court and it was only a Banker’s lien as provided under section 171 of the contract Act. The allegations that no notice dated 26.10.2010 was issued on the complainant. The opposite party had reversed the lien on its own accord within a short period taking into consideration the facts and circumstances of the opposite party is a customer friendly and service oriented bank. The Opposite party have their own code of conduct and had never been having with any of the customers as alleged by the complainant. In the absence of any proof of deficiency of service the complainant is not entitled to any relief from this Hon’ble Forum and the complaint is liable to be dismissed as devoid of merit.
5. In order to prove case of the complainant, the proof affidavit is filed as her evidence and Ex.A1 to ExA10 were marked . While so, on the side of the opposite party, proof affidavit filed, but no documents marked.
6. At this juncture, the vital point for consideration before this Forum is :
- Whether there is any deficiency of service on the part of the opposite
party as alleged in the complaint?
- Whether the complainant is entitled for any compensation as prayed for?
7. In spite of sufficient time given to the complainant, she has not come forward to file the Written Arguments, whereas the written Arguments filed by the opposite party.
8.Point No. (1) According to the averments of the complaint is that even after cleared the amount due to the credit card transaction of the Opposite Party Bank as per the agreement of Lok Adalat, the representative of the opposite party often used to phone by very indecent words and threatened her and family members with due consequences, and also without any prior notice or information to the complainant, they taken steps and attached her salary by way of illegal and wrongful information to her garnishee and withheld the salary in the month of September- 2010 and credited the amount towards her credit card and thereby caused much hardships to the complainant, and hence the opposite party is bound to pay a compensation of Rs. 2,00,000/-.
9. While so, the opposite party stated that, in fact the complainant, did not adhere the order of the Lok Adalat properly to the dates of the settlement and paid the first two installments belatedly and the opposite party had acted promptly and immediately reversed the entries on 12.1.2011 even before the notice was received from the complainant and the other allegations are all false and frivolous and all are denied and therefore there is no question of deficiency of service and hence the complainant is not entitled to any relief and the complaint is liable to be dismissed.
10. At the outset, it is the foremost duty of this Forum is to decide as to whether the complainant has proved the allegation made in the complainant regarding deficiency of service of the opposite party by means of acceptable and consistent evidence. First of all on careful perusal of the rival submissions put forth on both sides, the issuance of credit card to the complainant by the opposite party and thereby the due amount in the month of June 2010 was Rs. 63,695/- by usage is all admitted one. For which, the complainant’s father wrote a letter to the opposite party for settlement which is proved that ExA1& ExA2. Further, it is learnt from the evidence of the complainant, and also of the opposite party the matter was referred to Lok Adalat for pre-litigation and taken up on 21.6.2010 and the settlement was arrived at between the parties that the complainant has agreed to pay Rs. 14,000/- by cash on or before 07.07.2010, Rs. 14,000/- by cash on or before 07.08.2010 and last payment of Rs.15,000/- by cash on or before 07.09.2010, the total of Rs. 43,000/-. The order of the Lok Adalat is marked as ExA3.
11. Such being the order passed by the Lok Adalat, on perusal of the receipts which are marked as ExA5, it is crystal clear that the 1st & 2nd installment has not been paid as per the norms fixed by the Lok Adalath and it has been paid belatedly and some default. In this regard, the correspondence has been taken place between the parties which are marked ExA4, ExA6 to EXA7. ExA8 is the statement of the credit card used by the complainant. More so, from ExA7, it is learnt that the opposite party regretted for the inconvenience caused to the complainant which clearly shows the correct approach and attitude of the opposite party. Not only that, from ExA10, the opposite party confirmed the deactivation of the credit card of the complainant and informed the complainant if she needs any information immediately contact through customer service which shows the goodwill of the opposite party.
12. In such circumstances, the next thing, to be considered as to whether there is any truth in the allegation made by the complainant against the opposite party. On going through the averments of the proof affidavit, it is stated that, the representatives of the opposite party scolded by using indecent words and threatened her and family members with due consequences through phone often and without any prior notice or information the opposite party taken steps and attached her salary by way of illegal and wrongful information, to her garnishee and cheating withheld the September-2010 salary and credited on 29.09.2010 towards her credit card account and caused mental agony. ExA9, the legal notice also reveals the above said fact. Regarding the above said allegation in fact, practically no iota of evidence put forth by the complainant before this forum though the duty cast upon the complainant to prove the same since, the initial, he burden of proof is on the shoulder of the complainant. So, mere making of allegation in the complaint is not enough and cannot be looked into it.
13. From the foregoing, among other facts, this Forum can easily to arrive that there is no volume of deficiency of service on the part of the opposite party and the same has not been proved by the complainant though the cogent and consistent evidence. Therefore, the plea taken by the opposite party cannot be easily thrown out.
In the light of the above discussion, the forum without any hesitation hold that there is no chance of causing mental agony as averred in the complaint due the deficiency of service of the opposite party. Thus, the Point No. 1 is answered accordingly.
14.Point No. 2: In view of the decision arrived in the Point No.1, the complainant is not entitled for any relief as prayed in the complaint. Thus the Point No. 2 is answered accordingly.
In the result, this complaint is dismissed. No costs.
Dictated directly by the president to the Steno-typist, transcribed and computerized by her, corrected by the president and pronounced by us in the open forum on this the 24th June – 2015.
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MEMBER – I MEMBER – II PRESIDENT
List of Complainant Documents:
Ex.A1. Dt.11.05.2010 - Xerox Copy of Letter to ICICI Bank
Ex.A2. Dt.17.05.2010 - Xerox Copy of Letter to ICICI Bank
Ex.A3. Dt. 21.06.2010 - Xerox Copy of Lok Adalat Notice
Ex.A4. Dt.23.10.2010 - Xerox Copy of E. Mail from ICICI Bank
Ex.A5. Dt. 02.11.2010 - Xerox Copy of ICICI Bank ATM Mini
Statement
Ex.A6. Dt. 03.11.2010 - Xerox Copy of E.Mail Sent to ICICI Bank
Ex.A7. Dt. 10.11.2010 - Xerox Copy of E. Mail from ICICI Bank
Ex.A8. Dt. 12.11.2010 - Xerox Copy of Credit Card Statement
Ex.A9. Dt. 17.11.2010 - Xerox Legal Notice to ICICI Bank
Ex.A10.Dt.29.11.2010 - Xerox Deactivation Letter Ref.
No. 112610/5603345
Opposite Party List of documents: -Nil-
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MEMBER –I MEMBER – II PRESIDENT
