Complaints Of Banking Frauds Not Maintainable Before Consumer Forum: Delhi District Commission
The Delhi district commission has held that cyber frauds such as unlawful bank debit transactions are not within the purview of consumer forums. A bench comprising of President Sonica Mehrotra, Member Richa Jindal and Member Anil Kumar has observed that such allegations of fraud and cheating require detailed investigation and cannot be decided by consumer commissions in their...
The Delhi district commission has held that cyber frauds such as unlawful bank debit transactions are not within the purview of consumer forums. A bench comprising of President Sonica Mehrotra, Member Richa Jindal and Member Anil Kumar has observed that such allegations of fraud and cheating require detailed investigation and cannot be decided by consumer commissions in their summary procedure.
Brief background:
The complainant held a credit card issued by ICICI bank. While searching for online hotel bookings in Amritsar, the complainant was contacted by the manager of a hotel- Lemon Tree Hotel. Consequently, he was asked to pay a sum of Rs. 12, 295/- by way of credit card for confirmation of booking. On payment of the amount, a debit SMS was received. However, a second automated message was also received by the complainant for an unauthorised debit of Rs. 4,07,200. A complaint was immediately lodged with the bank and a Transaction Dispute Form was submitted by the complainant. ['Transaction Dispute form' is form for consumer complaints relating to credit or debit cards]
The matter was also reported to the cyber crime cell as directed by the bank. Since no resolution was given by the bank, a complaint was filed with the Banking Ombudsman by the complainant. On not receiving any adequate response, the complainant filed a complaint before the consumer forum praying for appropriate compensation. It was stated that he has been made a victim of a planned cyber fraud by the bank.
The bank raised objections to the complaint on maintainability. It was argued that such an act of unlawful debit from the bank account required detailed investigation by the police and thus consumer forums cannot decide complaints of such nature.
Observations:
The bench relied upon the judgment of NCDRC in Manisha Sohilkumar vs HDFC bank [CC 767 of 2020] wherein the commission observed that banking frauds require thorough and detailed investigation by the police officials since elements of forgery, cheating, etc. are also involved.
Further reliance was placed on the decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in City Union bank vs R. Chandramohan [Civil Appeal 7289 of 2009]. The Supreme Court observed that since consumer commissions follow a summary procedure, complaints having highly disputed questions of facts or cases of fraud cannot be decided by them.
Hence, it was observed that the present complaint involves a primary question of fraud and forgery which required appropriate investigation and bank inquiry. Thus, the matter is not within the jurisdiction of the consumer court.
Thus, the complaint was dismissed with liberty to the complainant to approach the relevant court of law.
Case name: Rajesh Handa vs ICICI bank
Case number: CC 525 of 2024 [Delhi district, West]
Date of decision: 26.11.2024