The Thanjavur District Consumer Redressal Forum has pulled up a private banking institution for mishandling a cheque and ordered compensation to the account holder who presented the cheque for clearance.
According to the DCR Forum’s order, delivered by Forum President T. Sekar and Member K. Velumani on Wednesday, the petitioner, R. Subramanian of Victoria Colony, Reddipalayam Road, Thanjavur, filed a petition alleging deficiency in service on the part of the private banking institution having its branch on Tiruchi Main Road, Thanjavur, in February, 2024.
He claimed that a cheque for ₹5 lakh issued in his favour by his friend, Ayyappan of North Rampart, Thanjavur, was presented for clearance through his account with the bank on November 2, 2023. However, he received an SMS from the bank on November 3, 2023, stating that the cheque could not be cleared since Ayyappan had issued a “stop payment” instruction to the private bank through which he had issued the cheque.
Subsequently, the petitioner approached his bank to collect the cheque leaf and the memo containing the reason for the non-clearance of the banking instrument on November 18, 2023, to initiate legal action against his friend. However, he was informed that the issuer, Ayyappan, had already collected the cheque and memo.
When Subramanian pointed out the mistake in handling the dishonoured instrument, the bank authorities said they would collect the cheque and memo from Ayyappan and hand them over to Subramanian on November 20, 2023.
However, the bank authorities failed to honour their commitment since Ayyappan had destroyed the cheque leaf and the memo. Subsequently, Subramanian filed a case at the Forum against the bank demanding ₹10 lakh as compensation for the deficiency in service on the part of the bank.
After hearing the arguments, the Forum on September 11, 2024, citing an order pronounced by the National Commission in a similar issue, found the bank guilty of violating Reserve Bank of India’s directions in handling dishonoured cheques/banking instruments and ordered the bank to pay the petitioner, Subramanian, a sum of ₹10 lakh (including the amount to be repaid by Ayyappan to Subramanian) as compensation for the deficiency in service meted out to Subramanian and ₹10,000 towards costs.
Published - September 11, 2024 05:51 pm IST
