Know! How a man got Rs 100 per day compensation for failed ATM transaction

Thane: A consumer court here has ordered the Union Bank of India branch at Dombivali and Punjab National Bank at Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh to pay a compensation of Rs 100 per day from June 7, 2014 to a complainant for deficiency in services.

Thane District Consumer Redressal Forum president Sneha Mhatre and member N D Kadam also directed the banks to re-credit by July 31 an amount of Rs 20,000 wrongly debited from the complainant's account and also pay Rs 2,000 towards his expenses in pursuing the complaint.

Samokhoo Prajapati, a resident of Nandivili in Kalyan township of Thane, informed the forum that during a tour of UP on June 7, 2014, he tried to withdraw Rs 10,000 from an ATM machine of PNB at Shahganj in Jaunpur but the cash was not dispensed. A second attempt to withdraw the cash also failed, but he received an SMS of Rs 20,000 debited from his account even when the cash was not dispensed by the ATM.

Prajapati immediately informed his Union Bank home branch at Dombivali on telephone of the cash not dispensed by the ATM and that the amount had been debited from his account.

He was informed by the branch that the amount would be credited to his account within the next 7 to 8 days.

After his return, he made a written complaint to the branch but did not receive any response even after reminders.

Hence, he filed the complaint with the consumer forum and sought re-credit of Rs 20,000 wrongly debited with an interest at 18 percent and also Rs 45,000 compensation for mental harassment and Rs 5,000 towards the legal expenses.

Both the respondents failed to respond, and hence the matter was decided ex-parte against them.

The forum, in its order, noted that even though the complainant has not produced any documentary evidence of the cash withdrawal transactions, he filed the copies of the correspondence between him and the bank and this is enough to decide the complaint.

Relying on a notification of the RBI in this connection, the forum recently asked the two banks to pay Prajapati a compensation of Rs 100 per day from June 7, 2014.