Bank dishonours cheque sans valid reasons, fined

Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 14

Terming the act of dishonouring a cheque without valid reasons as deficiency in service, the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, UT, has directed a bank to pay a compensation of Rs5,000 to a consumer for causing mental agony, harassment and loss of reputation. The Commission has also directed the bank to pay Rs5,000 as litigation cost to the consumer.

Jyoti Khemka, a city resident, approached the Commission after her cheque was dishonoured despite having sufficient amount in the account.

In the complaint filed before the Commission, Jyoti said she had an account with Canara Bank, Nangia Park, Shakti Nagar, in Delhi. She purchased a car for which she drew a cheque on June 27, 2020, from her savings bank account for Rs6.95 lakh. On the basis of her creditworthiness, the vendor sanctioned the sale on June 28, 2020. On June 30, 2020, the complainant was informed by the vendor that her cheque had been dishonoured and the sale was consequently cancelled.

Due to this, she served notices on the bank (opposite party) asking the reason behind dishonouring the cheque on July 9, 2020. In response to this, the opposite party informed her that the cheque was dishonoured due to mismatch of her signatures.

The bank contested the complaint and filed its written reply. It pleaded that the signatures of the complainant differ from the actual signatures available in the bank records. Pleading that no cause of action accrued at any point of time for the complainant to file the complaint, a prayer was made for its dismissal.

After hearing the arguments and examining the records, the Commission noted that the bank had not adduced/produced any documentary evidence by way of any certificate/ report from any authorities or handwriting expert that the signatures of the complaint on the cheque and the one in the records differ materially.

The Commission said: “We are of the concerted opinion that by not honouring the cheque, the bank has indulged in unfair trade practice and there has been deficiency in service on part of the bank. It has also caused mental agony and harassment to the complainant by causing loss of reputation. In view of this, the bank has been directed to pay Rs5,000 as compensation for mental agony, harassment and causing loss of reputation and Rs5,000 as cost of litigation to the complainant”.