Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (SP)
Udupi, Aug 27: Addressing a press conference here on Thursday August 26, president of Human Rights Protection Foundation, Dr Ravindranath Shanbhag, alleged that despite the court judgement asking the bank to reimburse the money which a customer of the bank had lost because of the deficiency of service on the part of the bank, the bank has failed to honour it. He said that the court had ordered the bank to compensate the aggrieved customer within 30 days, but the bank had not adhered to the order even after 40 days.
Shanbhag stated that the court will be approached again seeking execution of its judgement.
Harish Gudigar is a wood craftsman from Uppoor near here, He had been working for a Bengaluru-based company. He had his savings bank account in State Bank Malleshwaram branch there. He had deposited the money he had saved in that bank in term deposits. He resigned from his job in February 2019 and shifted base to his native place. He opened a shop in the town where he sold artefacts carved out of wood. He got his bank account transferred from Bengaluru to the State Bank of India Santhekatte branch.
On August 23, 2019, Harish got a message on his mobile phone informing that a sum of Rs 5,00,010 had been transferred. The message was beamed twice. Harish had not undertaken any banking transactions for long and had not issued any cheques. His savings bank did not have so much funds. Still, he opened the account online on his laptop and found to his shock that within a few minutes, three entries had been passed in his savings bank account. The first two entries pertained to transfer of Rs 4,50,000 and Rs 50,010 from his long term deposits account to his savings bank account while the third entry showed that the entire sum of Rs 5,00,010 had been transferred to a branch of State Bank in New Delhi. Harish's total balance in the bank stood reduced to Rs 360 which he immediately transferred to HDFC Bank.
Harish contacted the bank manager and gave all details in writing. The manager contacted the New Delhi branch and informed Harish that the amount was still with the New Delhi branch of the bank, the same had been blocked, and within two days the sum would be re-transferred. Harish showed the bank manager the original deposit receipts he still had with him and sought an explanation as to how the deposits can be transferred in the absence of deposit receipts. The manager refused to explain. As per the manager's suggestion, a complaint was filed with the cybercrime police. On the very next day, the police filed first information report in the court.
Worried at the fact that the fund was not transferred back to his account even after two days, Harish visited the bank every day to enquire about the fate of his money. He also complained to senior official of the bank and cybercrime police. As the issue was not addressed, he filed complaint in the consumers’ court, Shanbhag said.
The manager of the bank gave details of the account eight months after the incident. The amount had been transferred to a concern named 'One 97 Communications' New Delhi. As the bank failed to recover the money, Harish approached the consumer court on January 27, 2020. The court took 16 months to pass judgement in which State Bank was found to have been guilty of deficiency of service. The presiding officer ordered the bank to refund Rs 5.5 lac to the customer along with 10 percent per annum interest and Rs 50,000 as compensation along with Rs 10,000 towards court costs. Even after 40 days of the judgement, Harish is waiting for his money. Ravindranath Shanbhag said that the court will be approached again on this issue.
Harish along with wife Vinuta, and daughter were present at the press conference.