Consumer forum directs bank to pay ₹40,000 to retired army officer for delay in breaking open locker

Pune: The Pune district consumer redressal forum has directed the Union Bank of India to pay compensation of ₹40,000 to a retired army officer towards mental and physical agony caused for delay in breaking open the locker in his name

Pune: The Pune district consumer redressal forum has directed the Union Bank of India to pay compensation of ₹40,000 to a retired army officer towards mental and physical agony caused for delay in breaking open the locker in his name.

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Brigadier Vijay Kumar Arora (retired), 71, lodged a consumer complaint under Section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, alleging deficiency in service from the bank. In the complaint lodged on December 21, 2017, the complainant sought relief of ₹60,000 towards denial of the locker facility at the rate of ₹15,000 per month for four months after discounting the demonisation period. He also sought relief of ₹3.45 lakh towards compensation of demonetised currency notes which could not be exchanged by the due end date of December 2016.

Arora, along with his wife Rekha Arora (64), had jointly hired a locker in the bank since January 2011. Unfortunately, the locker key got misplaced by the couple. Arora wrote to the bank on November 4, informing about the loss of locker key and requested for breaking open the locker. The bank admitted that the said referred letter was duly received by them on the same date. Despite numerous visits, the locker was finally broken only on March 22, 2017. The bank took about 10- 12 days for getting the locker opened as informed by the bank when the letter was given as they had to coordinate with Godrej company (suppliers of locker) for breaking open the locker, the complaint stated.

However, the bank took more than four months (137 days) from November 4, 2016 to March 22, 2017 for breaking open the locker. Even after allowing 26 days of November 2016 when the bank was busy with other urgent official works due to demonetisation, they still took 112 days from December 1, 2016 to March 22 to get the locker opened. Hence, the complainant’s wife could not take out any jewellery kept in the locker and had to suffer embarrassment at social gatherings as she had no ornaments to wear. They also could not exchange ₹3.45 lakh kept in the locker in demonetised currency notes, according to the complainant.

The locker was broken open on March 22, 2017 and emptied of its contents, including demonetised currency notes, in the presence of Himani Jain, bank official and incharge of the locker room, and a Godrej technician. When the complainant approached the bank to compensate them for denying the locker facility for a long time, vide their email dated March 23, 2017, the bank blamed the complainant by stating that the latter never expressed the urgency for breaking open the locker and also that he did not respond to the several telephone calls made by the bank.

The bank filed its response in written on April 1, 2018.

The complainant denied the bank’s allegations.

“The bank did not admit that it took more than four months for breaking open the locker as it was busy with demonetisation work from December 1, 2016 to March 22, 2017 and took 112 days to break open the locker. It also denied that they have denied locker facility for a long period and the bank issued an email on March 23, 2017 to that regard (denying facility of locker) is not true. It is not true that the complainant did not express the urgency for breaking open the locker in spite of several telephone calls made by the bank. It is pertinent to note that, after incident of loss of key, the complainant did not apply for new locker facility so that to prove how much the complainant is a diligent customer. On these main grounds, the bank prayed that the complaint may be dismissed with compensatory costs,” the complainant stated.

After hearing the bank’s response, the forum directed the manager, Union Bank of India, BT Kawade road branch, to pay to the complainant ₹40,000 by way of compensation towards mental and physical agony and for being late in breaking open the bank locker.