State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission
Partap Singh Mehra vs Branch Manager on 22 July, 2010
BEFORE THE DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM-I, U
STATE CONSUMER DISPUTES
REDRESSAL COMMISSION,
UNION TERRITORY, CHANDIGARH.
Appeal case No.69/2010
Partap Singh Mehra, House No.1286-A, Sector-41B,
Chandigarh.
Appellant
Versus
Branch Manager, SBI Branch, SCO 156-159, Sector-34, Chandigarh.
--Respondent
Appeal U/s 15 of Consumer Protection Act,1986 against
order dated 11.1.2010 passed
by Consumer Disputes
Redressal Forum-I, U.T.Chandigarh.
Argued by : Sh.K.S.Arya,
advocate for respondent.
None for the appellant.
BEFORE : Honble
Mr.Justice Pritam Pal, President
Mrs.Neena Sandhu,Member
JUDGMENT
22.7.2010 Justice Pritam Pal, President
1. This appeal by complainant is directed against the order dated 11.1.2010 passed by District Consumer Forum-I, U.T. Chandigarh whereby complaint bearing No.1366 of 2009 filed by him was dismissed.
2. In nutshell, the facts as set out in the complaint are that the complainant on 25.05.09 tried twice to withdraw Rs.2,000/- from SBI ATM machine installed at sector 37, Chandigarh but both the times he was unable to withdraw the money from the said ATM machine and got a message on machine Transaction unable to access. The slip for the said message was not printed out at that time by the ATM machine. He then went to the ICICI ATM machine and was able to withdraw Rs.2,000/- from it. Thereafter, the complainant again went to the SBI ATM machine on the same day to know the balance in his account and when he entered the ATM card in the machine he received a statement receipt which showed a withdrawal of Rs.4,000/-. The complainant then made written request to the Chief Manager of SBI Sector 34, Chandigarh on 26.05.09 intimating the above facts. The complainant received a letter from SBI on 9.06.09, in which it was written that the withdrawal transaction was a successful transaction and no excess cash was found in the ATM. The complainant also sought information regarding the above facts from SBI under RTI Act,2005. The SBI in their reply dated 22.07.09 stated that as per provisions of RTI Act 2005 the information sought was not covered under the definition of information under section 2(f) RTI Act. Thereafter, the complainant tried to seek information from the appellate authority of SBI on 8.08.09 but the said authority repeated the same answer as given by CPIO. Hence, alleging deficiency in service and unfair trade practice on the part of OPs, complainant filed complaint before the District Forum seeking payment of Rs.4,000/- alongwith interest, costs of litigation and compensation towards mental agony and harassment caused to him.
3.. On the other hand, the case of OPs was that the complainant had used the facility of ATM and had withdrawn an amount of Rs.4,000/-. It was pleaded that it was absolutely wrong to allege that the complainant made entry in ATM machine for withdrawal of Rs.2,000/- twice but was unsuccessful. They stated that the ATM machine reads only what is fed into it. The ATM machine had shown withdrawal of Rs.4,000/-, which proved that the complainant had given wrong facts that he tried to withdraw Rs.2,000/- twice as the `Mini Statement` requisitioned by the complainant was furnished by the ATM machine with correct and factual position according to the withdrawal effected by the complainant. It was pleaded that there was no deficiency in service and a prayer was made for dismissal of the complaint.
4. The District Consumer Forum after going through the evidence and hearing the complainant and counsel for opposite parties came to the conclusion that there was no merit in the complaint and dismissed the same. Still dissatisfied, complainant has come up in this appeal.
5. Today when the case was fixed for hearing, none appeared on behalf of appellant. We have heard learned counsel for the respondent and gone through the file carefully. It is urged in the grounds of appeal that the order passed by the District Forum is not based on the complete evidence as the State Bank of India had not attached any annexure with the reply as supporting documents. The other ground is that the record of all transactions dated 25.5.2009 which was provided by the ATM machine was required to be placed before the Forum and shown to him for sorting out the matter properly. These points however, have been repelled by the learned counsel for respondent who submitted that all the documents pertaining to the transactions of complainant were produced before the Forum .
6. We have given our thoughtful consideration to the above grounds of appeal and find the same to be devoid of any merit, inasmuch-as documents produced by respondent bank pertaining to the transaction of complainant regarding withdrawal of Rs.4000/- revealed that the said transaction was successful.
It was for the complainant to produce evidence to prove his allegation that the attempts made by him for withdrawal of Rs.2000/- twice were not successful. The Chief Manager, State Bank of India,Sector-7, Chandigarh vide its letter dated 4.6.2009 (Ex.R.1) intimated to the Branch Manager, SBI, Sector-34, Chandigarh that according to J.P Roll dated 25.5.2009 Txn No.8487 for Rs.4000/- pertaining to the transaction of withdrawal made by the complainant was successful and no cash had been found excess in the ATM as per CAC. The relevant documents were attached with the written statement of respondent before the District Forum and a copy thereof was supplied to the complainant and he was asked to file rejoinder and evidence but he did not file any rejoinder to the written statement despite granting opportunity by the District Forum in that regard.
7. In view of the foregoing discussion , we are of the considered opinion that there is no illegality in the impugned order dated 11.1.2010 of the District Forum dismissing the complaint of complainant . Accordingly the appeal, being devoid of any merit is hereby dismissed.
Certified Copies of this order be sent to the parties, free of charge. The file be consigned to record room.
Sd/-
Announced ( Justice Pritam Pal)(Retd.)
22nd July,2010
President
Sd/- (Mrs.Neena
Sandhu)
Member
*Js