Hon’ble Mr. Subhas Ch. Guin, Member.
The Sum and substance of the Complaint case is that the complainant Mr. Pukhraj Sethia, who is a reputed businessman of Cooch Behar district had an S/B account with the Union Bank of India, Cooch Behar Branch, P.O.& Dist.- Cooch Behar and was taking service of credit card bearing No :- 4537571100264559 from the above said bank with a limit of Rs.55000/-. He had given authorization to the said bank to auto debit the liability from his S/B account No: 548102010004061 which kept sufficient balance for the same. Once he made an expenditure of Rs.43243.73 which was due to be paid on 10.04.2018. Later he came to know that bank had charged late fee on subsequent bills without debiting the S/B account of Rs.43243.87/-. Thereafter he requested the bank authority repeatedly to debit the account of the said amount and to show cause as to why the late fee was charged. Subsequently he requested the bank authority to waive the late fee as there was no fault on his part but all his efforts were in vain. Ultimately he paid the amount of Rs.73033/- to the bank on 17.12.2019 instead of actual amount of Rs.43243.87/- and requested the bank of close the account and issue “No Objection Certificate” (in short NOC) as he was suffering from mental pain, agony and loss of goodwill. Despite receipt of outstanding dues and request from the complainant to issue NOC and close the account, bank neither issued NOC nor did they close the account. On the contrary bank authority continuously reported to CIBIL which hampered the Complainant’s record. These activities of the bank authority caused the complainant to suffer from mental pain, agony and harassment. To take the recourse of law, the complainant filed this case before the commission for redressal of his grievances as Branch Manager, Union Bank of India, Cooch Behar Branch, P.O. & Dist.- Cooch Behar, the opposite party of this instant case. He prayed to the commission for a direction to the O.P. Bank to close the credit card account and issue NOC and to refund the excess amount of Rs.29789/- and to pay Rs.100000/- as compensation for mental pain, agony and harassment and Rs100000/- for unfair trade practice and deficiency in service and Rs25000/- for cost of litigation. The cause of action for the present case arose on 10.04.2018 when the complainant used credit card for Rs.43243.87/- and on 17.12.2019 when he paid Rs.73033/- instead of Rs 43243.87/- and still continued.
Notice was served upon the OP. The OP turned up before the commission to contest the case by filing written version, evidence on affidavit, written argument and some other documents. The Ld. Advocate for the OP in his defence plea stated that they had received a letter dt. 21.02.18 from the Income Tax Department which stated inter alia that a sum of Rs.236273/- was due from the complainant, Mr. Pukhraj Sethia on account of income tax/ super tax/ penalty/ interest/ fine. So for such reason lien was marked in the S/B Account of the Complainant for attachment order on 22.02.2018. As per order of the IT Department, the Complainant should have deposited an amount of Rs.236273/- in his S/B account to cover the lien for satisfaction of the order of IT Department dt.21.02.2018 and then further amount to make available for payment of credit card dues. Subsequently all those amounts were deposited in the said S/B Account after lien was marked meant for till the amount of Rs. 236273/- was reached. The balance in the Complainant’s account was not sufficient till 01.03.2021 which was Rs.55324/- only. Thus it needed an amount of Rs.182949/- to be deposited to cover the dues of IT Department as per their order dt.21.02.2018. Therefore, the OP had to abide by the order of attachment from the IT Department first prior to any other obligation of the complainant.
Moreover Rs.43243.87/- owing to which the dispute arose, was not deducted from the complainant’s account on 10.04.2018 which did not have enough fund to deduct at the time of auto debit although it credited an amount of Rs.42000/- through NEFT afterward, stated by the Ld. Advocate of the OP. So, there is no negligence, unfair trade practice and deficiency in service on the part of OP for which the present complaint petition is liable to be dismissed.
Perused the pleading and evidence submitted by both parties. Heard the argument advanced by both parties at length.
So, for adjudicating the instant case those documents need to be analyzed minutely and for this following points are required to be discussed at length to reach a conclusion.
POINT FOR DISCUSSION
- Whether there was any deficiency in service on the part of OP?
- Whether the Complainant is entitled to get relief?
DECISION WITH REASONS
Above mentioned points are discussed together to make it concise.
The Complainant made an expenditure for Rs.43243.87/-, with his credit card having No:- 4537571100264559 ( Anex-A) issued by OP bank, which was payable on 10.04.2018. But to utter surprise of the Complainant, the S/B account of the complainant was not debited for the said amount although authorization for auto debit was given by him at the time of issuance of the credit card and there was sufficient balance in the account to debit. Ultimately late fee was charged on subsequent bills and the said amount cumulated to Rs.73033/-. When he came to know about the late fee and cumulative amount of Rs.73033/- he requested the OP bank to debit the account for the amount he purchased stuff and to waive the late fee as there is no fault of his. But all his efforts were in vain and he had to pay the amount of Rs. 73033/- on 17.12.2019. The Ld. Advocate for the O.P Bank submitted a notice from Income Tax Officer, Cooch Behar wherein it was stated that a sum of Rs. 236273/- was due from Pukhraj Sethia on account of income tax/ penalty/ interest/ fine for which Branch Manager, Union Bank of India, Cooch Behar Branch was directed to recover the same amount from S/B Account of Mr. Pukhraj Sethia failing which Branch Manager, Union Bank of India should be deemed to be an assessee in default in respect of the amount specified on the notice and further proceeding might be taken against him for realization of the amount as if it were an arrear of tax due from him in the manner provided in section 222 to 225 of IT Act. The notice also mentions that it has same effect as an attachment of debt by Tax Recovery Officer in exercise of power under section 222 of the said Act. The Ld. Advocate for the OP also argued that as consequence of that notice, lien was marked for the S/B Account of the Complainant and subsequent deposition in the said account continued till it reached the amount of Rs.236273/- without debiting the account for any reason.
As there was an embargo of the IT Department, the S/B account was blocked and auto debit facility failed for the credit card of the Complainant. The complainant was totally aware of the embargo as a copy of that notice was served upon him. Despite service of such notice of IT Department, the Complainant did nothing for the same. In the result, his late fee for the credit card increased by leaps and bounds and ultimately he had to pay a huge sum of money as late fee. On the contrary, from a letter mailed to the Complainant by OP bank on 24.08.2018 (Anex-B) wherein it is seen that on 10.04.2018 auto debit failed due to want of sufficient balance and so was the case of 10.05.2018 and 11.06.2018, as auto debit run on 10th of every month.
Thus it is seen from the aforesaid discussion that the Complainant neither maintains sufficient balance in his S/B account for auto debit facility of his credit card nor does he comply with the orders of the IT Department as a defaulter of the said department which caused the OP bank to block the account due to which auto debit failed. Therefore, the Commission comes to the conclusion that there is no deficiency in service on the part of the OP bank and as such there is no scope for relief as prayed for by the Complainant which leads the complaint case to fail on contest.
Hence, it is
Ordered
That the instant case be and the same is dismissed on contest without cost.
Let a copy of this final order be sent to the concerned parties through registered post with A/D or hand over forthwith for information and necessary action.
The copy of this Final Order/Judgement is also available on www.confonet.nic.in
Dictated & Corrected by me.
