Madurai
Madurai District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum on Friday directed ICICI Bank, Madurai, and Indian Overseas Bank, Chennai, to jointly and severally compensate a complainant after it found the banks guilty of negligence in a case of cheque box tampering and manipulation.
The forum was hearing the case of T. D. Subramanian of Madurai, who was having a bank account with the ICICI Bank. He said that he had received a cheque for ₹83,825 from his customer, Kumaran Textiles, Chennai, though an Indian Overseas Bank cheque.
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The complainant is said to have dropped the cheque for collection with a challan dated April 2012 in the security drop box of the ICICI Bank. However, the money was not credited into his account. It was brought to his notice that the security drop box was broken open and various cheques dropped into the box were taken away by culprits.
A complaint was made to the Banking Ombudsman, RBI, Chennai, who, after conducting an inquiry, found out that the complainant’s cheque was manipulated, forged and presented through Federal Bank, Madurai, in another person’s name. The Banking Ombudsman had found ICICI Bank at fault for not safeguarding safety and security of the drop box and the Indian Overseas Bank for not properly scrutinising the cheque before payment.
The forum comprising president V. Balasundarakumar and members C. Packialakshmi and M. Maraikamalai directed both the banks to jointly and severally pay the cheque amount of ₹83,825, a compensation of ₹50,000 and ₹3000 as cost to the complainant.
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