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Court also directed the ICICI bank to issue an indemnity bond in favour of the complainant regarding all the documents handed over by him as security at the time of registration of sale deed
The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) has directed ICICI Bank to pay Rs. 25 lakh as compensation for losing original titled documents pertaining to an individual’s property.
The court was hearing a consumer complaint filed under Section 21(a)(i) of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, on the ground that the ICICI bank was guilty of deficiency in services, as it had “lost the original title documents” pertaining to an individual’s property which were deposited with the bank from whom a housing loan was obtained by the complainant.
The complaint was filed by Manoj Madhusudhanan through Advocate Swetank Shantanu.
The complainant stated that the ICICI bank sanctioned a housing loan of Rs. 1,86,00,000/- on April 11, 2016 for the purchase of site in Kenchenahalli, Rajarajeshwari Nagar, Bangalore to be repaid over 20 years at a monthly EMI of Rs. 1,72,769.50 per month.
Upon execution of the Sale Deed before the Sub Registrar, Rajarajeshwari Nagar on April 22, 2016, the following papers were retained in original by the bank as security:
Complainant stated that no scanned or true copied were provided by the Bank to him for which he had registered a complaint on June 14, 2016. On June 21, 2016 the bank had informed the complainant that they were initiating the process of tracing the misplaced original documents pertaining to the property and on July 14, 2016 the bank had informed that the papers had been lost in transit from Bangalore to its central storage facility in Hyderabad by opposite party no. 2, a courier company.
Since the Bank failed to respond to its efforts to resolve the issue, the complainant approached the Banking Ombudsman in August 2016 which directed ICICI bank to issue a duplicate copy of the lost documents, publish a public notice regarding the loss and pay the complainant Rs. 25,000/- towards deficiency in service.
The complainant sought a compensation of Rs. 5,00,00,000 for mental agony and loss caused to him for misplacing the original documents as well as towards causing deficiency of service on part of the respondents while carrying out their duties and being negligent in their conduct.
The counsels for the complainant argued that he was a 'consumer' under the Act qua the bank having availed of banking services of obtaining a bank loan from it and the loss of the original papers by it amounts to deficiency in service. It was contended that “his title to the property based on the recreated papers would be weak in terms of clear title which would affect its value should he wish to place the property on the real estate market or use it is a collateral”.
Presiding Member Subhash Chandra noted that the ICICI bank was responsible for the custody and security of the original title documents pertaining to the housing loan sanctioned by it to the complainant.
The court said, “The liability of the opposite party 1(ICICI Bank) is manifest in the loss of the documents. It cannot seek to shift the liability to its agent, the opposite party 2(Courier company). The deficiency in service has also been held as established by the Banking Ombudsman”.
The court directed the ICICI bank to issue an indemnity bond in favour of the complainant regarding all the documents handed over by him as security at the time of registration of sale deed.
“Pay Rs.25,00,000/- to the complainant towards compensation after factoring in the compensation awarded by the Banking Ombudsman, Pay the complainant Rs.50,000/- as litigation cost; and Comply with this order within 8 weeks failing which the opposite party shall be liable to pay interest at 12% per annum till realization”, the court ordered.
Furthermore, the court ordered, “the above directions shall be complied with within 8 weeks of this order failing which the amount shall be paid with simple interest @ 9% from the date of this order till realization”.
Case Title: Manoj Madhusudhanan v. ICICI Bank Ltd. and Ors.
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