Canara Bank directed to pay Rs 5K for deficiency in service
Dushyant Singh Pundir
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, June 17
The Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has directed Canara Bank to pay Rs5,000 to a city resident for deficiency in service.
In a complaint to the forum, Parminder Pal Singh Bhatia, a resident of Sector 27-D, Chandigarh, submitted that he was maintaining a savings bank account with Canara Bank, Sector 44-C. Bhatia said his daughter got admission in Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. For confirmation of acceptance for studies (CAS), he had to show financial documents. He got balance certificates from all his banks, including Canara Bank, issued. However, the university asked him to obtain the balance certificate as per their sample language.
He said he again obtained balance certificates from five banks as per the sample language. He also visited the Canara Bank branch for getting the balance certificate, made written request and agreed to pay charges, but officials kept on delaying the matter on one pretext or the other. They wasted a day and ultimately denied to issue the same, stated the complainant.
It was submitted that due to the arbitrary act of the bank, the complainant had to apply for a priority visa for his daughter instead of a general visa and spent extra Rs22,111, along with paying Rs12,000 extra for on-the-spot ticket.
In its reply, the bank stated that they never refused to issue balance certificate, but it was the complainant who advised the bank official to issue the same with ‘To Whom It May Concern’ as the heading, which is not permissible. The same was already issued on September 10, 2019, but the complainant had refused to accept it.
“It is a privilege of the customer to have balance certificate and the request of the complainant for getting the certificate issued as “To Whomsoever It May Concern” is in no way wrong or out-of-the-way request. As it is clear that the complainant managed to obtain similar certificates from other banks, there is a deficiency in service on part of the bank,” observed the forum and directed the bank to pay Rs5,000 to the complainant towards compensation and litigation cost.
