State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission
1. Andhra Bank, Srisailam Branch, Rep By ... vs 1. Akhila Bharatiya Brahmana Karivena ... on 6 June, 2011
BEFORE THE A BEFORE THE A.P.STATE CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION: HYDERABAD F.A.No.439 OF 2009 AGAINST C.C.No.91 OF 2006 DISTRICT CONSUMER FORUM, KURNOOL. Between 1. Andhra Bank, Srisailam Branch, Rep by its Branch Manager, Srisailam 2. Zonal Manager, Zonal Office Andhra Bank, Kurnool 3. The General Manager Andhra Bank, Hyderabad Appellants/opposite parties No.1 to 3 A N D 1. Akhila Bharatiya Brahmana Karivena Nitya Annadanam Satram, Srisailam, by its Secretary, M.D.Y.Rama Murthy S/o late M.D.Ramaiah Advocate, D.No.67/87, Fort, Kurnool Respondent/complainant 2. T.Rama Murthy S/o T.Krishna Murthy R/o 25/204/A, Srinivasa Nagar, Nandyal Kurnool Dist. Respondent/opposite party no.4 Counsel for the Appellants :Sri K.Sridhar Rao Counsel for the Respondents :Sri G.Rajesham-R1 QUORUM: THE HONBLE JUSTICE SRI D.APPA RAO, PRESIDENT & SMT M.SHREESHA, HONBLE MEMBER
MONDAY THE SIXTH DAY OF JUNE, TWO THOUSAND ELEVEN.
Oral Order ( Typed to dictation of Smt Merla Shreesha, Honble Member) *** Aggrieved by the order in C.C.No.91 of 2006 dated 25.03.2009 on the file of District Forum Kurnool, the opposite parties no.1 to 3 preferred this appeal.
The brief facts as set out in the complaint are that the complainant is a Society registered under the Societies Registration Act which had several S.B.Accounts and one of them is S.B.A/c No.909 in the branch of opposite party no.1 since several years. The said account was operable by the Secretary and the Treasurer of the Society together. The cheques signed both by the Secretary and the Treasurer alone were being accepted for drawing of amounts from the accounts of the complainant Society.
While so when two of the office bearers of the Society by names T.Rama Moorthy, the then Joint Secretary-cum-Treasurer and Ch.Thyagaraja Sarma the then Vice President of the complainant started creating trouble. As per the demand of the members of the Executive Committee of the Society, the Secretary of the Society held Executive Committee Meetings on 19.2.2006 and passed resolution to strip off the powers of Joint Secretary-cum-Treasurership and Vice Presidentship by electing Dr.Venugopal as the new Treasurer. The said resolution was duly intimated to opposite party no.1 by its letter dated 22.02.2006 enclosing a notarized Xerox copy of the resolution of the Executive Body of the Society and requested to recognize the newly elected treasurer and his signatures in the place of the removed treasurer.
The complainant submits that the first opposite party accepted the change of Treasurership of the complainant Society and honoured cheque bearing NO.012843 dated 4.3.2006 for Rs.30,000/- but dishonoured the cheque bearing No.012844 issued in favour of T.Govinda Krishnaiah Setty for sum of Rs.16,045/- towards printing expenses on the ground that the accounts of the Society has been freezed. The complainant society addressed letter dated 19.5.2006 to the first opposite party marking copies to opposite parties no.2 and 3 questioning the unilateral freezing of accounts and the dishonour of the cheque and also requested them to immediately withdraw the freezing of the Satram accounts.
Opposite party no.1 gave reply dated 5.6.2006 justifying his action of freezing S.B.A/c of the complainant in conformity with the constitution of byelaws of the complainant Satram. The enquiries made by the complainant Society revealed that with the collusion of the erstwhile office bearers of the complainant Society the opposite party no.1 honoured the following cheques issued by the erstwhile office bearers of the complainant Society.
Cheque No. Date Amount Name
1. 0607926 20.05.2006 90,000/- K.Padmavathi
2. 0607927 22.05.2006 2,00,000/- K.Padmavathi
3. 0607928 22.05.2006 1,20,000/- T.Rama Linga Sastry
4. 0607929 22.05.2006 80,000/- Subrahmanya Kumar The complainant submits that opp.party no.1 ignored the cheque book already issued in favour of the complainant Society and has even favoured them by issuing a fresh cheque book to them. Hence the complaint seeking direction to opp.party no.1 not to resort to unilateral and whimsical acts of alleged freezing of S.B.A/c. No.909 of the complainant society , to direct opposite parties to pay Rs.9,00,000/- towards damages and to pay Rs.5,000/- towards costs of the complaint as cost of the complaint.
Opposite party no.1 filed counter which was adopted by the opposite parties 2 and 3 and submitted that since the account holder is the Society the first opposite party relied on the resolution and honoured the cheque issued by Dr.Venugopal and MDY Ram Murthy. Thereafter there was objection by T.Ram Murthy stating that action of M.D.Y.Rama Murthy and other in removing T.Ram Murthy is illegal. The first opposite party after examining the contention of T.Ram Murthy decided to freeze the account. But subsequently another resolution was received about the election of T.Ram Murthy as General Secretary and O.A.Mallik as Treasurer. Copy of proceedings of the Incharge president and resolution of the governing body of complainant Society were received by the opposite party no.1 wherein it was stated that the Board meeting of the complainant Society was convened on 4.5.2006 and it elected Sri T.Ram Murthy as General Secretary and Sri O.A.Mallik as Treasurer. They also sent their specimen signatures for operating accounts. They also enclosed copy of FIR filed against M.D.Y.Ram Murthy, G.Rama Rao, K.Radha Krishna Murthy for the offences under Sec.403, 406, 408 and 420. Sri M.D.Y.Ram Murthy filed O.O.P.No.18 of 2005 on the file of Principal District Judge, Kurnool against T.Ram Murthy, Thaygaraja Sarma and K.V.Prasad seeking declaration that the petitioner should continue as secretary of complainant society and to declare the claim of the respondents therein and 39 Committee members as illegal. The dispute is not a Consumer Dispute and it is to be settled either before arbitrator or before the District Judge as per Sec.23 of A.P. Societies Registration Act. M.D.Y.Ram Murthy instead of getting necessary orders with regard to operation of accounts by filing application in O.O.P.no.58 of 2005 has initiated parallel litigation. Hence, the opposite party no.1 prays for dismissal of the complaint.
Opposite party no.4 filed counter denying the status of the complainant as Secretary of complainant Society and thereby his authority to file the case. As per Rule 14 of the Bye-laws of the Society, the President alone is competent for suing and being sued for the said Society.
Sri M.D.Y.Ram Murthy has been removed from the post of Secretary as per the constitution and opposite party no.4 was elected as the Secretary of the complainant Society and a copy of resolution of the Governing Body was sent to opposite party no.1 informing the change in the Executive Committee. The tenure of Sri M.D.Y. Ram Murthy as Secretary of the complainant Society expired by February, 2004 itself and a General Body meeting was convened to be held on 23.1.2005 at Srisailam for election of the new body but he managed to postpone the elections. Thereafter he filed a petition in O.P.No.18 of 2005 on the file of Principal District Judge, Kurnool under Section 23 of A.P. Societies Registration Act-2001 to declare that he shall continue as Secretary of the said Society and the said petition is still pending before the said Court. Since the matter is already seized by the Civil Court, this complaint is not maintainable.
The District Forum based on the evidence adduced i.e. Exs.A1 to A8 and B1 to B7 allowed the complaint directing opp.parties 1 to 3 at their joint and several liability to make good of into the SB.A/c.No.909 of the complainants Society Rs.4,90,000/- with 12% interest from the date of honoring the said four cheques by giving credit of the same in the said account no.909 of complainants Society and the opp.parties 1 to 4 at their joint and several liability to pay to the complainants Society Rs.5000/- as costs of the case by giving its due credit into the SB.A/c 909 of the Complainants Society. Time granted for compliance of the order is one month from the date of receipt of the order and in default the opp.parties 1 to 4 in their joint and several liability to credit to the complainants Society A/c.No.909 their ordered liability with future interest of 12% from the date of default till crediting the same into the complainants S.B.A/c.no.909.
Aggrieved by this order opp.parties 1 to 3 preferred this appeal.
Ex.A2 is the Executive Committee Minutes of Meeting dt.19.2.2006 with respect to appointment of new executive council and action to be taken on Tyagaraja Sarma and T.Rama Murthy. The resolution unanimously concurs to remove the said Tyagaraja Sarma and T.Rama Murthy from their duties of Vice President and Joint Secretary cum Treasurer respectively and Dr.Venugopal was appointed as new Treasurer.
It is the complainants case that the said resolution was intimated to opposite party no.1 vide covering letter 22.2.2006 which was not specifically denied by the opp.party either in their written version or in their affidavit. It is not in dispute that the opp.party 1 had entertained the cheque bearing 012843 dt.4.3.2006 for Rs.30,000/- issued by the newly constituted body. Thereafter opp.party no.1 dishonoured cheque no.012844 issued by this new body in favour of T.Govinda, Krishnaiah Setty for Rs.16,045/-. It is the complainants case that four cheques totaling to Rs.4,90,000/- were passed by the opp.parties inspite of informing them about the newly elected body.
A brief perusal of Ex.B2 which is an unattested photocopy of the proceedings the Board of Management of the Satram is dt.4.5.06 and it is subsequent to the order dt.4.5.2006 of the Principal Dist. Sessions Judge, Kurnool, para 4 of Ex.B2 states that the Prl.Dist. Sessions judge, Kurnool has restricted to operate any action relating to the Sathram confined to Kurnool Dist. only. The 5th para states that the Board Management in its emergency meeting on 4.5.06 elected T.Ramamurthy, Treasurer, as General Secretary and Sri O.A.Mallik as Treasurer and that this is the information to all the Banks where the Society has the accounts. Ex.B5 is dt.15.5.2006 and is an attested letter by the Satram to the Branch Manager, Andhra Bank furnishing the specimen signature of T.Ramamurthy and O.A.Mallik elected newly to the Body. Ex.B6 is received by Andhra Bank on 13.4.2006 as evidenced from the stamp on the letter addressed by the Sathram to the Manager, Andhra Bank , Srisailam requesting for the stop payment operation in their S.B.Account no.909. The resolution in Ex.B3 referred in Ex.B2 is said to have been communicated vide covering letter dt.4.5.2006. Ex.A1 is the Certificate of Registration of Society and Rule 6(a) of the bye-laws empowers the Vice President to preside over the General Body Meeting in the absence of the President. We observe from the record that Ex.B3 was presided over by Sri Tyagaraja Sarma as Incharge President/Vice President and it was attended by the signatory therein. There is no evidence on record to establish that the said C.Tyagaraja Sarma was the then Vice President. Ex.B6 has not been mentioned either in the counter or in the affidavit of the opp.parties and it is undated and we are of the view that when instructions are given to a Bank to stop payments from any account specifically a date would be given and Ex.B6 is undated and is not even mentioned in the affidavit of opp.parties. There are no substantial reasons given by opp.party no.1 for allowing the cheques issued illegally.
For the afore mentioned reasons this appeal fails and is accordingly dismissed . Time for compliance four weeks.
Sd./PRESIDENT Sd./MEMBER Pm* Dt. 6.6.2011