ATUL NANDA Vs. RESERVE BANK OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) HEARD the learned counsel for the parties.

(2.) THE question which requires consideration in this complaint is whether a consumer can seek any relief in cases :

(3.) IN this complaint, after issuance of Notice and after hearing the learned counsel for the Reserve Bank of India (hereinafter referred to as the RBI for short) and various other banks, on 9. 11. 2006, inter alia, the following order was passed : it is the contention of the complainant that despite the various Committee Reports, appropriate action is not taken by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) with regard to recommendation for introduction of policy to curtail Banks enjoyment of float funds. Relevant part of the same is as under : need for introduction of policies to curtail banks enjoyment of float : the need for passing the interest benefits to payees on their cheque proceeds once the payees bank (and not payees account) receives credit from the drawee bank is of significant consequence. No passing of such interest benefits to the customers allows the banks to enjoy float and leads to undue enrichment of banks at the cost of their customers. Presently, as per data available (See Appendix C), in one year nearly 13,000 lakh cheques are cleared attributing to a total amount of more than Rs. 1,13,37,000 crores. Giving benefit of doubt to banks and considering that for at most 50% of the cheques banks are not enjoying any kind of float, it would mean that on an average the banking sector enriches itself (at the cost of its customers) to the tune of at least one days interest on at least 56,68,500 crores. On this one-days interest, even at a conservative rate of interest of 4% per annum, amounts to more than Rs. 621 crores. In fact the empirical study presented in Section 5 indicates that, on an average, the float enjoyed by banks is 4 and 6 days (while they take 11 and 16 days for collecting cheques) for metro and state capital respectively. For other centers it would be anybodys guess what the float period could be. The totality of huge float being enjoyed by banks is actually an unaccounted credit taken from the depositors without their explicit consent. The vital question here is why are the banks being allowed to enjoy even one-days float?