Terming the bank’s behaviour “extremely negligent”, District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Chandigarh, penalised a private bank for issuing an account statement of a Panchkula resident to a third party without an authorisation letter.
It directed the bank to pay in lumpsum an amount of ₹30,000 to the complainant as compensation for causing mental agony and harassment. Also, to pay ₹10,000 as costs of litigation.
Complainant Pardeep Kumar Jain, of Panchkula, filed a complaint against HDFC Bank’s regional corporate office, Chandigarh, through its regional head and its branch in Sector 17.
Jain had opened a savings bank account with the HDFC Bank, Sector 17, on August 10, 2022. He alleged that his account’s statement was procured by someone from the bank for the period from January 1, 2018, to May 27, 2019, due to which heavy loss has been caused to him.
A complaint was submitted to the bank, but no action was taken. Hence, he approached the commission and produced the statement as evidence in court.
Denying all allegations, the bank said the source of the procured statement was not from the branch or bank since it was not signed or stamped. It can be downloaded by any person who has the internet banking login details of the complainant’s account.
{{/usCountry}}Denying all allegations, the bank said the source of the procured statement was not from the branch or bank since it was not signed or stamped. It can be downloaded by any person who has the internet banking login details of the complainant’s account.
{{/usCountry}}The commission observed: “The guidelines issued by the RBI prescribed that no information of any account can be supplied to a third party and we are of the view that the opposition party has been extremely negligent in protecting the information in regard to the savings bank account of the complainant, which have caused lot of mental agony and harassment to the complainant.”