H R DARVESH Vs. PUNJAB NATIONAL BANK

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This First Appeal No. 628 of 1993 is against the order dated 14.9.93 of the State Commission, Haryana in Complaint Case No. 37 of 1993. The State Commission has dealt with the facts of this case in a fairly elaborate manner and in detail. Briefly the facts of this case are that the appellant, Shri H.R. Darvesh, his wife Smt. Shil Darvesh and his son, Shri Ranjan Sharma obtained 1,000 U.S. Dollars by exchanging Rs. 30,500/- from the respondent from Punjab National Bank, Overseas Branch, Civil Lines, Jalandhar, for going to Bangkok where the appellant No. 1 Shri H.R. Darvesh was to receive "Pride of India Gold Award" for the commendable work done by him in turning many a sick industrial unit into profitable ones. On reaching Bangkok, he discovered that the Dollar bills given by the respondent Bank were fake and had to live with this thought and went through the ordeal of being detected in possession of fake currency. They, therefore, claimed a compensation for the humiliation, agony and stress during their visit abroad as follows :

(2.) The State Commission, Haryana, after dealing with the preliminary objection that such a complaint is not covered by the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 and holding that this complaint is covered by the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 accepted the complaint of the appellant as a consumer and scrutinised the matterplaced before them both by the appellant and the respondent. In their reply before the State Commission, the respondent-Bank, admitted that on scrutiny it was found that the Dollar bills issued by them were fake but contended that they were not a ware of this fact as they could not detect these bills as counterfeit at the time of their issue. In fact, even the Sian Commercial Bank, Bangkok, could not detect them as counterfeit on presentation because these Dollar bills were so meticulously prepared that it was not possible to detect them in the ordinary course of business. The respondent-Bank took all the care and caution as a prudent person, but still "to err is human" dictum could not be ruled out. On its part, the Bank took immediate action after they received an application from the appellant on 2.11.92 and after verification and permission from the Reserve Bank of India, Indian currency which was exchanged for these Dollar bills, was paid to him. The respondent-Bank also alleged that there was a violation of Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, by the appellants as they had applied to the Bank for 500 US Dollars each for going on a pleasure trip on the circuit Delhi-Bangkok-Singapore-Bangkok-Delhi by Thai Airlines, under the FTS facility, which is available only once in three years, and which cannot be combined with a visit on export promotion or other business purposes.

(3.) Be that as it may, the fact remains that counterfeit currency was issued to the appellants by the respondent-Bank. Later, after due verification, the respondent-Bank returned the money which they had taken in exchange for this counterfeit currency. Shocking though it is that even an important Bank, viz., the Punjab National Bank, could not, in its ordinary course of business, detect the counterfeit currency, it is quite possible, in view of the fact that such currency is generally prepared in a very meticulous manner and needs a very close and careful scrutiny by experts in the field of currency identification. It is also plausible that the appellants must have received a shock when the issued currency was detected as counterfeit and, therefore, must have gone through agony and mental stress throughout their visit to Bangkok- Singapore. However, unless the mala fide intention and a deliberate act of gross negligence is established on the part of the Punjab National Bank, it would be difficult to accept the claim of Rs. 9.5 lakhs by way of compensation etc. as preferred by the appellant before the State Commission.