Hyderabad consumer forum tells Andhra Bank to refund customer's Rs 19,000

Hyderabad: The Hyderabad consumer forum – 3 has directed the Andhra Bank, Banjara Hills branch to refund Rs 19,000 to one K. Surya Kumari, plus 9 per cent interest and also give Rs 10,000 as compensation besides Rs 3,000 as costs for erroneously debiting the money from her account and then refusing to credit it.The complainant’s husband K. Ramalingeshwar Rao, 74, had on December 23, 2015 went to the bank’s ATM kiosk at Musheerabad to withdraw money.

When he inserted the card at 6:27 pm to withdraw Rs 15,000/, the request was refused due to technical issues of machine. He tried again about half-an-hour later, this time keying a lesser amount of Rs 4,000, assuming that the machine was unable to dispense higher amounts. He was again unsuccessful. Mr Rao waited for a few more minutes and in his third attempt, the machine dispensed Rs 2,000.

However, to his surprise the statement obtained from the machine showed that a sum of Rs 15,000 and Rs 4,000 were withdrawn in the first and second transactions. The complainant and her husband rushed to the Kavadiguda branch next day and got their passbook updated in which it was mentioned that a total of Rs 19,000 was debited from the account.

They approached the bank officials to inform their issue. The officials asked them to file a complaint. They did so on December 24, 2015, but didn’t get any response from the bank.

Later, the complainant filed a complaint in the head office which was received by the banking ombudsman, who in turn closed the complaint stating that it needed a detailed investigation of evidence which was beyond the provision of banking ombudsman.

Unhappy with the attitude of the banking officials, the complainant served them a legal notice, but there was no response from the bank.The complainant then approached the forum to get justice.

The bank officials while clarifying their stand said that the complainant had malafide intentions, and added why else would he insert the debit card thrice. They asked how was it possible that he didn’t get money in the first two transactions but did so in the third.

The forum, after hearing both the parties, noted that it was a known fact that ATM machines were not totally secure and often develop technical errors. The forum also noted that the bank couldn’t provide the CCTV footage of that particular date to prove its claims. The forum ruled in favour of the complainant and directed the bank to refund Rs 19,000/ with 9 per cent interest and Rs 10,000 as compensation and Rs 3,000 towards costs.