Govind Lal Sharma held a Pension Account at State Bank of India’s Special Branch in the Court Complex. He was also issued an ATM card for the account.
On Feb 12, 2019, at around 4.00pm Sharma received a call from 911412822408, informing him of daily debits of Rs 40,000/ from his account between Feb 4, 2019 and Feb 12, 2019. He was surprised as he had not received any SMS messages regarding the transactions. Upon checking, he found his ATM card safe in his possession.
The following day, he visited the branch with his ATM card and passbook, and discovered that Rs 3,60,000 had been illegally withdrawn in multiples of Rs 40,000. He reported about the unauthorized withdrawals to the bank officials, and submitted a written complaint as advised. He was assured that the complaint would be investigated within 15 days. On Feb 14, 2019, he also lodged an FIR with the police. As there was no response even after a month, Sharma approached the Banking Ombudsman who failed to issue any specific directions and instead merely advised the bank to resolve the grievance through its Internal Committee by adopting Standard Operating Procedures (SOP). As the bank ignored the Ombudsman’s advice, Sharma filed a complaint before the Jodhpur District Consumer Forum-II.
The bank contested the complaint. It contended that Sharma did not received SMS messages due to “technical issues”. It argued that the PIN required for completion of the transaction could only be known to Sharma. The Forum overruled the defences raised, and ordered the bank to pay Rs 3,60,000 along with 9% interest from the date of filing the complaint. It also awarded Rs 10,000 towards mental harassment and Rs 5,000 towards litigation costs.