MAGMA HOUSING FINANCE (FORMERLY KNOWN AS GE MONEY HOUSING FINANCE) FORMERLY KNOWN AS GE MONEY HOUSING FINANCE, HAVING ITS REGD. OFFICE AT: MAGMA HOUSE, 24, PARK STREET, KOLKATA Vs. MATHEW V. THOMAS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By this First Appeal, under Section 19 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 (for short "the Act"), a Housing Finance Company, namely, GE Money Housing Finance, now known as Magma Housing Finance, calls in question the legality and correctness of the order dated 09.01.2017, passed by the Maharashtra State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission at Mumbai (for short "the State Commission") in Consumer Complaint No. RBT/CC/13/109 in CC/10/203. By the impugned order, the State Commission has partly allowed the Complaint, holding that the Respondents/Complainants are entitled to recover by way of refund the excess amount of interest, i.e. Rs. 1,21,000/-, charged by the Appellant herein. Since the Appellant had disclosed the name of the Complainants as defaulter in the data base of defaulters without any valid ground, the State Commission has also held that the Complainants would be entitled to recover, from the Appellant, a further sum of Rs. 50,000/- as damages and Rs. 1,00,000/- as costs of litigation.

(2.) The circumstances, necessitating filing of the Complaint are as follows:

(3.) Since the Appellant remained unrepresented, the State Commission proceeded against it ex-parte. On appreciation of the material available before it and in the absence of any opposition to the allegations levelled in the Complaint, the State Commission vide the order impugned in this Appeal partly allowed the Complaint and issued the afore-noted directions to the Appellant.