S C SHARMA Vs. STATE BANK OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Col. S. C. Sharma approached this Commission with a complaint under Sec.17 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 alleging that inspite of receipt of Pension Pay Orders from the Controller of Defence Accounts (Pension), Allahabad on 21st May, 1991 at the Pay Branch of the State Bank of India at Haldwani through the State Bank of India, Nainital who received it on 23.4.1991, the opposite party did not make payment until 10th March, 1992 while he made several attempts to contact the officials of the same branch on a number of times just after his retirement from Armed Forces on 20.8.1990. According to the complainant he should have been paid on 1st June, 1991, (a) Retirement Gratuity Rs.98,125/-, (b) commuted value of pension amounting to Rs.1,94,291.00, and (c) monthly pension at the rate of 1,739/- plus DA and relief totalling Rs.3,050/- per month but the same could be paid by transfer credit to his Saving Bank Account No.25522 only on 10.3.1992 when the C. D. A. (Pension), Allahabad vide his telegram dated 26.2.1992 asked the opposite party for the action taken on the P. P. O. sent to it long ago in April, 1991. Copy of the said telegram was received by the complainant also on 9.3.1992 upon which he came to know about the actual position of the receipt of the P. P. O. by opposite party in the last week of May, 1991. He made request to the opposite party to credit the arrears of the pension emolument/due up to June, 1991, and the amounts of the Cratuity and Commutation of Pension on 1.7.1991 in his Savings Bank Account which was already in operation with the opposite party Bank in order to get the interest thereon which he had suffered on account of the negligence of the opposite party but no action was taken by the opposite party and therefore he filed this complaint.

(2.) In response to the notice of the complaint the opposite party filed written statement dated 7.7.1993 alongwith an affidavit of Sri K. K. Guruani, Chief Manager of State Bank of India, Haldwani sworn on 9.7.1993. The opposite party while admitting the operating of the Saving Bank Account No.25522 by the complainant with the opposite party Branch and also the receipt of the Pension Pay Order No.003365/91 on 21.5.1991 in paragraphs 1 and 2 of the written statement, has taken the stand that mere receipt of the P. P. O. and opening of the Saving Bank Account were not enough to get the pension and other retirement benefits of gratuity and commutation of the pension as alleged by the complainant but a number of formalities were to be completed by the complainant with regard to his life certificate, identifications, attestation of his signature for which the complainant never approached the opposite party branch of Senior Officer of the Bank and when he contacted the State Bank of India Branch, Haldwani on 10.3.1992, payments of his gratuity, commutation of the pension and arrears of the monthly pension were credited to his Saving Bank Account and thus there was no deficiency of service on the part of the opposite party and the complainant himself was responsible for the delay. The opposite party has emphatically denied that the complainant had ever visited the opposite party or senior officer and made any complaint to it in writing with regard to his pension matters.

(3.) The complainant has also filed rejoinder affidavit sworn on 11.8.1993 in reply to the written statement and in support of his claim and re- iterated the facts as mentioned in the complaint.