Judgment :

Pinaki Chandra Ghose, J.

1. Delay in filing Civil Appeal No.503 of 2008 is condoned.

2. Civil Appeal No.400 of 2007 has been filed by the Punjab University which is a statutory/autonomous body constituted under the Punjab University Act, 1947 for imparting education to Signature Not Verified Digitally signed by Sanjay Kumar the general public. Civil Appeal No.503 of 2008 is the cross appeal filed by the Unit Trust of India. Both the aforementioned appeals arise against the impugned judgment dated October 17, 2006 of the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (hereinafter referred to as "National Commission") in Original Petition No.97 of 2004, which was filed by Punjab University, being the complainant against the Unit Trust of India (hereinafter referred to as "UTI"). Civil Appeal No.4664 of 2009 filed by the UTI arises against the impugned order dated April 17, 2009 passed by the National Commission in Original Petition No.51 of 2005, which has been filed by the complainant Punjab Agriculture University against the opposite party being the UTI.

3. As the consumer complaint filed in both the matters pertains to the same scheme being the "Institutional Investors Special Fund Unit Scheme, 1998" (hereinafter referred to as "IISFUS98") in which the Punjab University (complainant in Original Petition No.97 of 2004) and Punjab Agriculture University (complainant in Original Petition No.51 of 2005) invested and the National Commission while passing the order in Original Petition No.51 of 2005 relied upon its earlier decision rendered in Original Petition No.97 of 2004, all the matters were heard together and are being disposed of by means of this common judgment.

4. To understand the controversy in these appeals, we will briefly discuss the factual matrix, which for the sake of brevity is limited to the facts extracted from Civil Appeal No. 400 of 2007 and is stated as under:

4.1. Punjab University employs thousands of employees for the smooth functioning of the University and for this purpose it receives grants from the Central Government as well as from the State Government for making payment to its employees towards salaries, provident funds, gratuity etc. The University has a contributory Provident Fund Scheme for its employees and its fund is maintained and administered by the University. In the year 1993, Punjab University invested an amount of Rs.9.6 crores in the "Institutional Investors Special Fund Unit Scheme93" (hereinafter referred to as "IISFUS-93") of UTI, which was an open ended scheme.

4.2. The amount was invested with the reinvestment option of the dividend and the said amount became Rs.19.78 crores on termination of the scheme by the UTI on March 31, 1998. This Scheme guaranteed protection of original capital and assured a return of 16% per annum payable half yearly. The IISFUS-93 Scheme was unilaterally terminated by the UTI w.e.f. March 31, 1998 and the maturity amount became Rs.19,78,26,299.44p.

4.3. Thereafter, in the year 1998, another Scheme i.e. IISFUS-98 was floated by the UTI and Punjab University invested an amount of Rs.19 crores which was received by it on the maturity of IISFUS-93 with a specific understanding that the dividend receivable during the Scheme period would be reinvested and it would be refunded with a minimum interest at the rate of 13.5% per annum.

4.4. In view of the conversion of Rs.19 cores from IISFUS-93 to IISFUS-98, the University also made an investment of Rs.4.5 crores. This investment was made out of the funds "Foundation for Higher Education & Research". The Head Office of UTI at Mumbai issued two IISFUS-98 certificates for 1,90,00,000 units and 45,00,000 units worth Rs.19 crores and Rs.4.5 crores respectively, with each unit having a face value of Rs.10/-. The dispute in this matter revolves around the question as to whether the University is entitled to interest at the rate of 13.5% on the reinvested amount i.e the dividend which is reinvested with the UTI