Date of Filing : 25.10.2016

Date of Disposal : 21.12.2022

BEFORE THE KARNATAKA STATE CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION, BENGALURU (PRINCIPAL BENCH)

DATED THIS THE  21^st DAY OF DECEMBER 2022

PRESENT

HON’BLE Mr.JUSTICE HULUVADI G RAMESH : PRESIDENT

Mr. K.B.SANGANNANAVAR : JUDICIAL MEMBER

Mrs.M.DIVYASHREE : LADY MEMBER

APPEAL NO.2870, 2871, 2872, 2873, 2874,

2875, 2876, 2877, 2879 of 2016

                               COMMON ORDER

BY Mrs. M.DIVYASHREE : LADY MEMBER

1. These are the appeals filed U/s.15 of CPA 1986 by OP.2 aggrieved by the order dtd.25.08.2016, 29.03.2016, 05.08.2016, 26.08.2016, 03.05.2016, 12.04.2016 passed in CC.Nos.204, 203, 179, 187, 20, 18, 205 of 2016 and CC.Nos.604, 603 of 2015 on the file of Belagavi District Forum.
2. The Commission examined grounds of appeal, impugned order, appeal papers and heard the learned counsels.
3. It is the case of the Complainants before the Forum below is, OP Co-operative society has not returned the amounts kept under the FD even after maturity date and also stopped to pay interest, as such they initiated consumer complaint against OPs. OP.1 & 2 did not appear to contest the matter and they are placed exparte. Forum below enquired into the matter and thereby allowed the complaints directing the OPs to pay the amount under FDRs with future rate of interest at 8% p.a; to pay Rs.3,000/- as cost, failing to pay within stipulated period, to pay Rs.50/- per  day from the date of disobedience of order.
4. Being aggrieved by the said order, OP.2 preferred this appeal on the grounds that they are not served with complaint copy and are unaware of the complaint proceedings, and after came into existence of new Board came to know about fraudulent acts of one of the employee/Secretary/OP.1 initiated suit against him, and that apart audit reports pertaining to the deposits in question do not show entries, thereby sought for set aside the order under impugned.
5. It is the contention of Appellant/OP.2 that, earlier Board of Director was functioning during the period 2005 to March 2015 and the present new Board of Directors was nominated in April 2015 and continues to operate till completion of its tenure. One Sri.Ramesh B Kolkar/OP.1/Secretary is only one employee since 1982 and the day to day business affairs of the society are exclusively assigned to him. Thereby sought with old Board and Secretary to furnish all the accounts, FD details with account registers and books. Since they failed to give such records, passed the resolution on 12.04.2015 & 23.05.2015/Annexure B & C mentioning the non-supply of the said records, so also, wrote letters/annexures D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K,L&M on 23.04.15, 24.04.15, 06.05.15, 05.09.15, 26.11.15, 02.12.15, 11.02.16, 12.03.16, 22.03.16 & 13.04.2016. But till today neither old Board nor the Secretary furnished the records. Although the Secretary undertakes to give those records, stopped reporting on duty, so also cut off the contact with the Board of Directors. As such the society has initiated a disciplinary action against him for committing such serious misconducts and filed PCR/8/2008 before Civil Judge and JMFC Belagavi which is still pending for consideration.
6. For having deposited the amounts, the Complainants have produced FDRs. The details of the FD, date of deposit, maturity date and receipt of interest are furnished as:

Further we found the Chairman and W.C.Member have subscribed their signature in the said FDRs. As per the records, new Board came into exist from April 2015, from then onwards Complainants neither received the amount under FD nor received the interest, which made them to suffer not only financial loss so also mental agony since their hard earned money got stuck in the society. In this regard, contention of the Appellant could not be accepted since the dispute if any between the Board and its Employees is nothing to do in refunding the FD. In this regard, we placed reliance on the decision relied on by learned counsel for R.1 of Hon’ble Apex Court reported in (2011) 15 SCC 113 in the case of Hariyana Grameen Bank vs. Madanlal, wherein held as “the internal embezzlement by the employee of the society would not affect the right of the depositor to seek refund of the deposit amount with interest.” Usually, people deposit their hard earned money to get use of it in their hard times. Thereby it is for the financial institutions to return the amounts under FD whenever depositors seek for refund. Here in this case, when OP society failed to pay the interest and also return FD, in our view, it is to be held, Complainant rightly approached the Forum below to get their grievance redressed, and the Forum rightly recorded the findings and allowed the complaint, thereby, found no error/omission in the impugned order of the Forum below.

7. In view of this matter, we are of the considered view that, since the management of the society, present incharge of the society is responsible for the return of the amounts of the Complainants under FD account with interest. In this view of the matter, we proceed to dispose off these appeals keeping liberty to the Complainants to file a execution proceedings/EP against the present incharge of the society for return of the amount under FD account with interest and also to take action against erring Directors who were incharge and responsible for the default in causing loss to the depositors. Accordingly, we proceed to dispose of these appeals in substitution of the order of the District Forum. Thus, “relief to pay Rs.50/- per day if the order of Forum below not complied in stipulated time” is hereby withdrawn and in substitution order to pay interest at 10% p.a. on the FD amounts instead of interest at 8% p.a. as awarded, it would meet the ends of justice. In our view such conclusion appears to be just and proper and accordingly we proceed to dispose of the appeals modifying the order of the Forum below in following terms:

The OPs are directed to pay the amount under FD along with interest at 10% p.a. from 02.01.2014 in CC/187/2016 and from 01.04.2015 in rest of the complaints CC/204, 203, 179, 20, 18, 205/2016 and CC/604, 603/2015 till realisation.

The OPs are directed to pay Rs.3,000/- each to the Complainants towards cost of the proceedings.

The OPs are directed to comply this order within six weeks from the date of receipt of this order.

8. The amount in deposit is directed to be transferred to the District Commission for needful. 
9. Return the LCR to the District Commission.
10. Keep the original order in A/2870/2016 and copies in rest of the connected appeals.
11. Notify copy of this Order to the District Commission and parties.

Lady Member             Judicial Member               President

*NS*