By  Sri.P.K.Sasi, President :

          The complainant’s are husband and wife. The case of the complainants is that there was a savings bank account maintained by the complainants with the opposite party. There was a balance amount of Rs.6,732/- as on 23/02/15. Whereas a cheque issued by the complainant for Rs.6,000/- on 05/03/15 was dishonoured by the opposite party stating the reason that there was no sufficient amounts in the account. On 24/03/15 an amount of Rs.10,760/- was also credited to the complainants account from the LIC. For an emergency purpose a cheque for Rs.10,000/- was issued by the complainant on 26/08/15 that was also returned by the opposite party stating the reason that payment stopped by attachment order U/s CBCID. Since the cheque was dishonoured by the opposite party the complainant happened to sustain unnecessary severe mental agony and heavy hardship also. There is no right for the CBCID officer to freeze the account of the complainant. The complainant asked the opposite party bank to provide the copy of the order then the opposite party bank has issued a Certificate showing the details of the order. The facts being so the opposite party debited Rs.10,488/- on 17/10/15 towards the cheque returned amount since the opposite party has returned the cheque stating the abovesaid reason. Since the 1^st complainant is a cardiac patient and didn’t use to go to the bank to verify his account details the opposite party committed all these illegal acts. The act of the opposite party returning the cheques without sufficient reason amounts to deficiency in service on their part and this complaint is filed for getting relief.

          2) Being noticed on the complaint the opposite party entered appearance through counsel and filed detailed version. According to the opposite party this complaint is filed by the complainant, by suppressing the material facts, only with an intention to make undue gain. The opposite party submitted that the complainant has issued a cheque for Rs. 20,00,000/- and that was returned on 21/02/15 for the reason that there is no sufficient amount in the account. On that day there was only Rs.6,732.75/- in the account of the complainant. The cheque return charge for the cheque was collected from the complainant by debiting the available amount in the SB account. Only Rs.6,732.75 was remaining in the account of the complainant. Therefore, the cheque for Rs.6,000/- issued by the complainant on 05/03/15 was dishonoured for the reason insufficient fund. All these facts are deliberately suppressed by the complainants.

          3) Thereafter, the SB account of the complainants` was  freezed by the CBCID, EOWII, Palakkad vide their letter dtd. 24/08/15.  Therefore, the cheque for Rs.10,000/- issued by the complainants on 26/08/15 was dishonoured and intimated to the complainant. The complainants also suppressed issuance of another cheque for Rs.23,00,000/- which was returned on 17/09/15 for the reason that insufficient funds and the account was freezed by CBCID. There was only Rs. 11,689.75  available on 17/09/15 in their account. The account was freezed by the CBCID inconnection with crime No.43/CR/EOW II/KTM/15, charged against the 1^st complainant being the Managing Director the misappropriation of funds committed by him in the Sumangalam Kuries and Loans Pvt. Ltd., Chelakkara. Since the complainants did not pay the cheque returned charge on 17/10/15 the said charge was also deducted from the amount made in the SB account as per the right conferred upon the opposite party bank by means of general lean. All these relevant facts are suppressed by the complainants from the Forum.

          4) The opposite party denied all other allegations stated in the complaint and submitted that neither  any deficiency in service nor any unfair trade practice happened on their part and prayed for the dismissal of the complaint with compensatory cost.

          5) Then the case was posted for evidence and the points for consideration was that

                   a) whether there was any deficiency in service happened on

                       the part of opposite party ?

                   b) If so what cost and relief ?

          6) From the side of complainants the 1^st complainant appeared before the Forum and submitted proof affidavit in which he has affirmed and explained all the averments stated in the complaint in detail. He also produced 7 documents which are marked as Ext. P1 to P7. Ext. P1 is the cheque issued by the complainant for an amount of Rs.10,000/-; Ext, P2 is the cheque return memo issued by the opposite party dtd. 1/9/15; Ext. P3 is the bank passbook; Ext. P4 is the copy of Certificate issued from the bank dtd. 21/01/16; Ext. P5 is the code of Bank’s Commitment to Customers, 2014; Ext. P6 is the Savings Account Rule print out taken from the web site and Ext. P7  (SP) is the Savings Bank charges chart print out taken from the website. From the side of opposite party  the present Branch Manager one Mr. Anoop Francis appeared before the Forum and submitted counter proof affidavit in which he has affirmed and narrated all the contentions raised in their version in detail. He also produced 6 documents which are marked as Ext. R1 to R6. Ext. R1 is the copy of letter received from CBCID dtd.24/08/15; Ext. R2 is the copy of cheque issued by the complainant for Rs.20,00,000/- dtd. 16/02/15;  Ext. R3 is the copy of cheque issued by the complainant for Rs.23,00,000/- dtd. 24/08/15; Ext. R4 is the statement of Account; Ext. R5 is the copy of Cirular dtd.31/11/13 and Ext. R6 is the copy of Circular issued by RBI dtd. 1/7/14. Both sides filed detailed argument notes and we heard in detail also.

          7) According to the complainants the opposite party has returned two cheques issued by the 1^st complainant eventhough there was sufficient amount in the account. Whereas, the opposite party contented that there was no sufficient amount in the account of the complainants and they have already issued two cheques for huge amount which were also dishonoured due to various reasons and the opposite party collected cheque returned charge from the complainants by deducting the available amount in their account as per the prevailing Laws. We have gone through the contents of affidavits and perused the documents produced from both sides. The learned counsel for the opposite party vehemently suppressed the material facts regarding issuance of two cheques for huge amounts which are returned for various reasons. Here the burden is upon the complainants to prove before the Forum that the cheques were returned by the opposite party without genuine reason eventhough, there was sufficient amount in the account to honour the cheques issued by the complainant. No steps were taken by the complainants to prove their case. The learned counsel further extended his submissions that the complainants have not taken any steps before any concerned authorities to get the freezing request issued by the CBCID officer. The documents produced from the side of opposite party would go to show that the complainant has suppressed the material facts regarding the issuance of two cheques of Rs.20,00,000/- abd Rs.23,00,000/- respectively. It is the settled position that the opposite party has got right to collect cheque returned charges as per their norms from the parties concerned.  Here also the documents produced from the side of opposite party would go to show that they have debited some amounts from the account of the complainants only as per the provisions of the law permits them to do so. Considering all these points discussed hereinabove we are of the opinion that the complainants are miserably failed to prove their case that any sort of deficiency in service happened on the part of opposite party towards them.

          In the result, we are inclined to dismiss this complaint without cost.

           Dictated to the Confidential Assistant, transcribed by her, corrected by me and pronounced in the open Forum this the 21^st day of July 2018.

             Sd/-                                                                      Sd/-  

M.P.Chandrakumar                                                     P.K.Sasi,

Member                                                                        President.                     

                                      Appendix

Complainants Exhibits :

Ext. P1 cheque issued by the complainant

Ext, P2 cheque return memo dtd. 1/9/15

Ext. P3 bank passbook

Ext. P4 copy of Certificate dtd. 21/01/16

Ext. P5 code of Bank’s Commitment to Customers, 2014

Ext. P6 Savings Account Rule print out

Ext. P7  (SP) Savings Bank charges chart print out

Opposite Parties Exhibits

Ext. R1 copy of letter received from CBCID dtd.24/08/15

Ext. R2 copy of cheque issued dtd. 16/02/15

Ext. R3 copy of cheque issued  dtd. 24/08/15

Ext. R4 statement of Account

Ext. R5 copy of Cirular dtd.31/11/13

Ext. R6 copy of Circular issued by RBI dtd. 1/7/14.

                                                                                           Id/-                                                                                                        President