The consumer forum found fault with Vijaya Bank for claiming that two persons from a family withdrew ₹30,000 each in 2017, when demonetisation had restricted cash withdrawals from ATMs and banks. The bank was directed to return the amount and pay ₹5,000 as compensation.
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum-II was dealing with a complaint filed by Rinki Agarwal, 25, and her mother Rekha Jindal, 49.
They stated that they withdrew cash in January 2017 and deposited ₹1,500 and ₹40,000 on February 20 and February 23 respectively into their bank accounts.
But, after updating the passbooks in March 2017, records stated withdrawals of ₹10,000 on three occasions — January 29, 30 and 31. They argued that they did not make these transactions.
They complained to the bank on March 14, 2017, requesting officials to furnish evidence of the withdrawals, but to no avail. They also sought Reserve Bank of India’s intervention.
Banking ombudsman
They alleged that it was not possible to withdraw a total of ₹60,000 from both accounts on January 29, 30 and 31, as the balance was much lower than that and there was no overdraft facility. However, the bank rejected all claims and stated that the complainants had their accounts overdrawn and it has the right to adjust credits. The bank also said that the case was taken to the banking ombudsman, who ruled in its favour. It stated that the ombudsman had observed that as per CCTV footage, Ms. Agarwal’s father withdrew the money. “There was a ‘third party compromise of the card details’,” it said.
Technical glitches
It maintained that during demonetisation, ‘almost 95% ATMs’, including its own, experienced technical glitches and claimed that the withdrawals were not immediately debited and the complainants with ‘fraudulent intentions’ withdrew the cash. The bank also provided the forum with documents that supported its arguments.
Insufficient funds
The forum observed that since the accounts had insufficient funds, they could not have overdrawn the money. Further, it said that the bank did not answer how cash could have been withdrawn when demonetisation was in force. It also stated that the ombudsman’s report was unable to explain how it had arrived at the conclusion that the complainant’s father had used her debit card.
Apart from directing the bank to pay ₹30,000 to each complainant and ₹5,000 to each as compensation, the forum ordered ₹2,500 to each towards costs.