KRISHNA CHANDRA MISHRA Vs. SISIR KUMAR MISHRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) MR . Justice A.K. Samantaray, President -This appeal is of the year 1998 and has been preferred by the appellants, who were opposite parties before the District Forum, Bolangir, in C.D. Case No. 55 of 1998 filed by the complainant, who is the respondent before us in the appeal. This appeal is listed today for hearing and when the matter was called for the purpose of hearing, neither the Counsel for the appellants nor the respondent was found present. Since it is an old appeal of 1998 and in the meantime more than a decade has passed, we dispose it of on merit on perusal of the appeal memo and the L.C.R.

(2.) THE complainant filed the complaint alleging therein that both the opposite parties / appellants all on a sudden came to him in December, 1996 and introduced themselves to be the Officers of a reputed Company named and styled as "JVG Leasing Limited" and they were posted at Bolangir Sadar as Field Officers to impress people at large to open Saving Pass Books under different schemes of the said Company. The complainant getting impressed by them and believing them as they were local persons opened an account under "Daily Margin Deposit Scheme" on 12.12.1996 and since then he had been depositing Rs. 25 daily till 20.10.1997 leaving aside a few days only. The daily deposit amounts have been calculated monthwise and the same have been entered in the passbook of the complainant bearing No. 257. They have entered the same monthwise till 30.9.1997 totalling a sum of Rs. 6,000. Apart from that, he had also deposited Rs. 425during the month of October, 1997, but the same was not reflected in the passbook. The grand total deposit in the said account comes to Rs. 6,425. The complainant due to his miserable financial condition could not make daily deposit till the date of maturity i.e., 12.1.1998 and asked the opposite parties to return the deposited amount, but they assured him to return the same after the date of maturity. After the date of maturity, when the complainant asked them to return the same, they started taking different pleas and till the date of filing of the complaint, they did not return the deposited amount. The complainant, therefore, filed the complaint before the District Forum, Bolangir making prayer for direction to the opposite parties to refund the amount of Rs. 6,425 with interest prevailed under that scheme upto 12.1.1998 and thereafter to pay interest @ 25% per annum thereon. He claimed a compensation of Rs. 10,000 towards mental agony suffered by him due to harassment caused to him by the opposite parties and further prayed for award of Rs. 1,000 towards litigation cost.

(3.) THE opposite parties appeared and filed joint written version denying all these facts as alleged in the complaint and stated therein that they have never gone to the complainant nor impressed upon him for opening any passbook or account under any scheme nor they received any amount from the complainant. They also raised question of maintainability of the complaint as the complainant did not make the Company as a party to the dispute.