STATE BANK OF INDIA Vs. BIRESH CHANDRA GANGOPADHYAY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present First Appeal has been filed under Sec. 51 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act') against the Order dtd. 4/8/2022 passed by the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Telangana ('the State Commission'), in Consumer Complaint No. CC/102/2019, wherein the Complaint filed by the Complainants (Respondents herein) was allowed.

(2.) For convenience, the parties involved in this Appeal will be referred as per their identification in the Complaint originally filed before the Ld. State Commission. Mr. Biresh Chandra Gangopadhyay is identified as Complainant No. 1, and Smt. Aarti Gangopadhyay, wife of Complainant No. 1, is identified as Complainant No. 2. The State Bank of India, represented by the Branch Manager, Deputy General Manager, and Chief General Manager, will be addressed as Opposite Party Nos. 1 to 3 (hereinafter referred to as "OPs Bank").

(3.) The brief relevant facts, as per the complainants, are that they opened a joint Savings Bank Account (S.B. A/c. No. 10123103876) at Balkampet Branch of the OPs Bank. Complainant No. 2 opened three fixed deposits for Rs.10.00 lakhs, Rs.15.00 lakhs, and Rs.15.00 lakhs (total Rs.40.00 lakhs) on 9/8/2017 for a period of one year with a mandate for auto-renewal. She was issued with the FD receipts in her name. On 4/4/2019, Complainant No. 1 went to the OP Bank to update the passbook of his wife, Complainant No. 2. He was informed that the printer was not working and was given an account statement from November 2018 to March 2019. He was shocked to see that it showed a balance of only Rs.3.00 lakhs instead of about Rs.28.00 lakhs. He noticed that all unauthorized withdrawals were made through internet banking, although the account had "View Only" facility and did not have internet banking facility for transactions. He immediately brought this to the notice of the Branch Manager of the OPs Bank and lodged a police complaint, leading to FIR No. 240/2019 dtd. 9/4/2019. He has also submitted a written complaint dtd. 12/4/2019 to OP-1, drawing their attention to the unauthorized withdrawal of about Rs.63,00,000.00 from Complainant No. 2's Account, including the premature and unauthorized closure of three FDs amounting to Rs.40.00 lakhs. The OP Bank contended that the internet banking credentials of Complainant No. 2 were compromised and OTPs were sent on each occasion when her internet banking was breached. However, the bank sidestepped the fact. The fraud could not have occurred but for the bank's actions in enlarging the scope of inherent banking transactions to permit: