Chandigarh: Bank found guilty of deficiency in service

Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Advertisement

Chandigarh, April 24

Depositing the tax amount of one consumer into another consumer’s tax account connected with a different PAN number has cost Axis Bank dear.

Holding the bank guilty of deficiency in service, the Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission, Chandigarh, has directed it to get the mistake rectified from the competent authority within a period of 45 days from the date of receipt of the certified copy of the order.

It was also directed to pay a lump sum compensation of Rs. 15,000 to the complainant on account of mental agony and physical harassment as well as litigation expenses.

Dr Rohit Bansal, a resident of Mani Majra, in a complaint filed before the commission, said he was having a savings account with Axis Bank. An amount of Rs. 40,000 was debited from his account on December 15, 2016, towards recovery of advance tax at source for the assessment year 2017-18. It was neither deposited in the tax account against his PAN number nor reflected in his tax deposit statement against income tax account. On enquiry, it was revealed that the amount was in fact deposited into some other income tax account connected with a different PAN number.

Despite repeated verbal as well as written requests, no action was initiated by the bank.

The bank pleaded that an amount of Rs. 40,000 as advance tax was wrongly deposited into an account connected with a different PAN number. After the mistake came to their knowledge, it requested the Commissioner of Income Tax to correct the entries and adjust Rs. 40,000 in the complainant’s PAN number. Pleading that there was no deficiency in service on its part, a prayer for dismissal of the complaint was made by the bank.

After hearing the arguments, the commission, comprising members Priti Malhotra and SK Sardana, held the bank guilty of deficiency in service.

The commission said the bank deducted Rs. 40,000 from the account of the complainant towards advance tax at source and wrongly deposited it to some another PAN account. On being approached, the mistake was not rectified by the bank till now, which itself amounted to deficiency in service on its part.

The commission said in view of this, the bank was directed to get the mistake rectified from the competent authority within a period of 45 days from the date of receipt of the certified copy of this order. It was also directed to pay a lump sum compensation of Rs. 15,000 to the complainant on account of mental agony and physical harassment as well as litigation expenses.

However, it is made clear that in case the bank failed to get the mistake rectified from the competent authority within the stipulated period, it should credit the amount of Rs. 40,000 to the complainant’s account along with interest as applicable on the savings bank account from the date of its deduction till its payment apart from the above reliefs.