DILIP KUMAR ROY Vs. ARCHANA ROY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The complainant/petitioner had an account with the respondent State Bank of India and an ATM Card had been issued to him to facilitate withdrawal from the said account. The complainant/petitioner visited an ATM Branch/ATM Booth of the respondent on 05.05.2010. Two ATMs had been installed in the said Branch/Booth. The case of the complainant/petitioner is that when he inserted the ATM card in the ATM, he was prompted to enter the PIN number. He thereupon entered the PIN number assigned to him by the bank. However, the ATM did not prompt him to enter the amount which he wanted to withdraw. He withdrew from the said ATM after a slip came out of the machine at about 1649 hours indicating no withdrawal from his account.

(2.) The complainant/petitioner allegedly contacted the Branch Manager of State Bank of India to inform him about the defect in the machine. This is also his grievance that no guard had been deployed at the ATM and that there was no partition between the two machines installed in the ATM Booth. The wife of the complainant visited the Branch on the next day and at that time, the Pass Book was completed by the bank and was given to her. The Pass Book showed withdrawal of Rs.40,000/- from the account on 05.05.2010. A report was lodged by the complainant at the instance of the Branch Manager, informing the police of what had transpired. Thereafter, he approached the concerned District Forum by way of a Consumer Complaint, seeking payment of the money which had been debited in his account alongwith compensation etc.

(3.) The complaint was resisted by the respondent bank which inter-alia stated in its reply that the complainant had made withdrawal of Rs.40,000/- at about 04:53 pm after an unsuccessful transaction at about 04:49 pm.