Shillong, July 17: The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Mathura has awarded relief to a customer of postal department in distress.
The commission in its recent order said that the complainant proved that the postal department, through its employee, wrongfully closed his account, forged his signatures, and transferred funds without authority. It therefore held the postal department liable for deficiency in service and awarded financial relief, compensation, litigation costs, and interest.
The order was issued on May 23.
The complainant is Dr. Rajendra Kumar Varshney, and the opposite parties are officials of the India Post Department, including the Secretary (Department of Posts), Chief Postmaster General, Director Postal Services, Head Postmaster, and the concerned Sub-Postmaster.
Dr. Rajendra Kumar Varshney had several postal savings accounts: An MIS (Monthly Income Scheme) account with a deposit of Rs 4,00,000, an RD (Recurring Deposit) account linked to the monthly interest from the MIS and another RD account that matured in 2015.
He handed over his passbooks to the Sub-Postmaster for updating entries.
According to him, the Sub-Postmaster kept delaying the return of the passbooks.
During that period, his signatures were allegedly forged.
His MIS account was closed without his consent.
The Rs 4 lakh deposited in the MIS account was transferred to another person’s account (his daughter Gurshita Gurmeet Kaur( without his authorisation.
Since the RD account depended on the monthly interest from the MIS account, it was also adversely affected.
Criminal proceedings
A criminal case (Crime No. 127/2016) was registered under IPC Sections 409, 420, 467, 471 and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
A departmental inquiry was also conducted against the postal employee.
The postal department stated that:payment had already been made.
Necessary departmental action had been taken.Therefore, nothing further remained payable.
However, the consumer court found that complainant’s signatures had been forged.
The account was closed illegally.
The money was transferred without authorization.This amounted to:
deficiency in service, negligence, forgery and unfair trade practice, breach of the trust reposed by consumers in the postal department.
The commission also rejected the argument that merely refunding the money after deducting 2% would end the Postal Department’s liability, because the original closure itself was fraudulent.
The complaint was partly allowed, and the commission directed the Postal Department to: Pay Rs 2,08,467 (maturity amount of RD Account No. 63043), Rs
8,010, representing the amount illegally deducted from the MIS account, Rs
5% simple interest on the total Rs 2,16,477 from April, 8, 2018 until actual payment, Rs 50,000 as compensation for:
mental agony, harassment , negligence and fraudulent conduct.
The court asked the postal department to
pay Rs 25,000 towards litigation expenses.
It has to make the payment within 45 days of receiving the certified copy of the order.
If payment is delayed beyond 45 days, the entire amount will carry 7% simple interest until payment.
The commission also wanted the department to correct the official records by treating: MIS Account No. 1049 as fraudulently closed, and
RD Account No. 63043 as having continued normally until maturity.
Make all necessary corrections in the complainant’s account records within 60 days.
