HDFC BANK LTD Vs. NILESH BHALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present Appeal has been filed against the order dtd. 12/12/2014 in complaint no.22/2013 whereby the complaint was allowed.

(2.) Briefly put, the facts are that the respondent / complainant is a Non Resident Indian as he was a resident of Johannesburg, South Africa and was having a saving account with the Appellant Bank since the year 2005 and customer verification code was also issued. He received a statement of account dtd. 1/12/2010 for the month of October 2010 and he noticed that 26,000 $ i.e.Rs.11,70,520.00 at the rate of 42.02 was withdrawn from the said account on 4/10/2010 and for that Rs.1000.00 was also charged towards service charges. He had taken up the issue with the Appellant and informed that he had never issued any direction relating to the said account and had not withdrawn the said amount. He also received certain documents from Overseas Bank Thailand and then he learnt that money had been transferred after opening an account on the basis of false documents. He made a complaint to the Ombudsman. Ombudsman in its verdict held the bank liable. However, in Appeal, the Appellant Authority Reserve Bank of India vide its order dtd. 19/3/2012 opined that since the matter requires detailed scrutiny and relates to legal dispute, set aside the order of the Ombudsman. Thereafter, a complaint was filed by the complainant claiming refund of the amount along with other benefits @ 12% p.a.

(3.) An application for condonation of delay was also filed along with the complaint. The said application was allowed by the State Commission vide its order dtd. 22/5/2013.