Chandigarh commission holds bank guilty of deficiency in service

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 5

In a first-of-its-kind case, the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, UT, held a bank guilty of deficiency in service for not checking the signatures of customers properly and directed it to refund over Rs60 lakh to customers. The said money was “fraudulently” withdrawn from the savings bank accounts of customers.

While the consumers claimed that they had not issued the cheques, the bank refused to believe their claims and said the amount was released after following due process. The bank claimed that the signatures of consumers on the cheques were similar to those available in the bank records. So, there was no deficiency on its part.

The commission heard the complaints of five consumers through counsels JC Batra and Arshdeep Singh on the direction of the Supreme Court, which directed the commission to compare the signatures itself and decide the matter on merit.

After comparing the signatures, the commission, comprising of its president Justice Raj Shekhar Attri and members Padma Pandey and Rajesh K Arya, reached the conclusion that “the signatures on the alleged cheques apparently vary and differ from that on the account opening forms and do not appear to be a genuine one. In other words, the signatures apparently appear to be forged one. On closer scrutiny, even an ordinary person could detect the same. Thus, we hold that the bank failed to discharge proper care and passed the cheques without observing due diligence.”

The commission said the officials concerned failed to compare the complainants’ signatures on the cheques with that of the specimen signatures available with the bank. It directed the bank to refund the respective amount of the customers with 6 per cent interest per annum. The commission also directed the bank to pay a compensation of Rs1 lakh each to all five customers for causing mental agony.

Bharpur Singh, Harinder Pal Singh, Pal Singh, Jasvir Singh and Prem Singh got justice after a legal battle of over 13 years.

The consumers said they opened accounts with Axis Bank in Chandigarh in 2008. When they went to the bank to withdraw money, the bank told them that their money had already been withdrawn through cheques issued in favour of a person, Gurwinder Singh, by them.

The complainants said they never issued cheques to anyone. They alleged that the payment was made by the bank without properly verifying the signatures on the cheques. When the bank failed to respond, they approached the consumer commission, but failed to get any relief. Even the National Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission rejected their appeal.

The consumers then approached the Supreme Court, which directed the commission to compare the signatures on these alleged cheques through which the amounts were fraudulently debited.

Bharpur Singh lost Rs11,83,000, Harinder Pal Singh Rs14,90,000, Pal Singh Rs17,70,000, Jasvir Singh Rs11,00,000 and Prem Singh Rs13,50,0000 through the alleged fraud.

“Bank officials failed to discharge their duties with proper care, caution and diligence, which led to a huge loss to the complainants, who deposited their hard-earned money in good faith in the savings account with the bank. Therefore, the bank is liable to make good the loss suffered by the complainants on account of its deficient service by paying the respective amount along with interest thereon,” says the order.

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