The Salem District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (DCDRC) on Wednesday directed the Salem Mettupatti toll gate, Kallakurichi Veeracholapuram toll gate, and SBI Fastag to pay compensation for deducting excess toll charges from a customer’s account.
Sabarimani, a resident of Four Roads here, headed to Villupuram district on August 15, 2020, in his car. When he crossed the Mettupatti toll gate, ₹50 was deducted from his SBI Fastag. After three days, he received an SMS saying that for the same transaction, ₹235 was deducted from his account.
Shocked by this, he approached the Mettupatti toll gate administration, and they blamed technical issues and added that the money would be refunded soon.
On September 3, 2020, again while he headed to Villupuram district, at Veeracholapuram toll gate in Kallakurichi district, ₹50 was deducted from his account, and after a week, he received an SMS that ₹40 was additionally deducted from his account at Veeracholapuram toll gate. When he asked the toll administration, they said the same reason and asked him to approach the SBI Fastag.
Based on that, Mr. Sabarimani sent an email to the SBI Fastag, but he did not receive any reply. Following this, he approached the Federation of Consumer Organisations of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry, and federation president A. Asokan filed a case at the Salem DCDRC on behalf of the affected consumer in June 2021.
After hearing the case, the DCDRC directed the Mettupatti and Veeracholapuram toll gate administrations to refund ₹275 deducted from the petitioner’s account and also to pay ₹4,000 to the petition for the mental agony, towards case expenses, and for deficiency in service.
The Commission also directed the SBI Fastag administration to pay ₹25,000 as compensation to the petitioner for mental agony and deficiency in services. It also directed that the compensation be paid within two months. Failure to pay the compensation within the stipulated period will entail 9% interest from the date of filing (June 2021), it said.
