Two banks asked to refund Rs 40,000, pay compensation

AMRITSAR: The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has directed two banks to refund Rs40,000 to a local resident, along with litigation expenses and compensation, as the amount was deducted from complainant’s account but not credited to his father’s account in other bank.

Amount deducted for cash transfer not credited

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, October 13

The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has directed two banks to refund Rs40,000 to a local resident, along with litigation expenses and compensation, as the amount was deducted from complainant’s account but not credited to his father’s account in other bank.

Vipin Brar, a resident of Ranjit Avenue, had filed a complaint against UCO Bank and Rajasthan Marudhara Gramin Bank stating that on October 17 last year, he transferred Rs40,000 from his account in UCO bank, through IMPS, to the bank account of his father Sohan Singh in Rajasthan Marudhara Gramin Bank. He alleged that the said amount was deducted from his account but was not credited his father’s account. The money was not even refunded to him, which forced him to file a complaint, he said.

In its reply, the UCO Bank said it had successfully debited the amount and transferred it to Rajasthan Marudhara Gramin Bank (RMGB) which had not transferred it into the account of complainant’s father. It added that RMGB was not a nationalised bank and they used to collect their proceeds through the State Bank of India (SBI).

The RMGB in its reply stated that the IMPS transaction was routed to the SBI due to non-updation of IFSC code. It stated that as SBI and their bank were having same account numbers, the amount got credited to SBI’s customers, who held the same account number for which the complainant had initiated the transaction. It stated that they could not recover the amount because remitter service provider is UCO Bank and the beneficiary bank is the SBI.

The consumer forum observed that both banks were shifting the onus of non-crediting the amount on each other and were unable to satisfy the customer, from whom account the amount was deducted. It stated that both parties were jointly and severally liable to get credited the amount of Rs40,000 to complainant’s father’s account. It also ordered both parties to pay a compensation of Rs3,000 and litigation expenses to the tune of Rs2,000.