Writ under Article 226 maintainable against private scheduled banks to enforce RBI guidelines; customer zero liability in unauthorized electronic transactions from third-party breaches like SIM swapping, absent negligence and with prompt reporting; bank bears proof burden.

JUDGMENT :

Bharati Dangre, J.

1. The Petitioner, a freelancer in Business Consultancy, has approached this Court stating that he is a victim of Cyber fraud and a sum of Rs. 38,04,000/- was unauthorizedly withdrawn from his two bank accounts maintained with HDFC Bank Ltd., in a time gap of 41 minutes. According to the Petitioner, he was defrauded by the online unauthorized withdrawals, the transactions being permitted by the Bank and his grievance is, the HDFC Bank has refused to reverse the amount to his account, which according to him is in complete breach of applicable directions /guidelines issued by the Reserve Bank of India (“RBI”). According to the Petitioner, his monies were unauthorizedly transferred to the account/s held by the fraudsters in ICICI Bank, who despite timely intimation in that behalf refused to take steps for preventing withdrawal/further transfer.

2. The Petition has impleaded the Union of India through the Ministry of Finance, and Ministry of Communications as Respondent No.1, with the Reserve Bank of India through the Governor, being impleaded as Respondent No.2, whereas the HDFC Bank Limited and ICICI Bank Ltd through their Managing Directors are impleaded as Respondent Nos.3 and 4 respectively, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (“BSNL”) is the Respondent No.5, in the Petition along with the State of Maharashtra through Wakad Police Station Pune, as Respondent No.6.

The Writ Petition seeks the following reliefs:-

“a. issue a writ of mandamus or a writ in the nature of mandamus or any other writ, order or direction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India to direct Respondent No. 2 to initiate appropriate action against Respondent Nos. 3 and 4 for violation of I-Banking Guidelines dated 14th June 2001 (Exhibit “O”), the said Notification dated 6th July 2017 (Exhibit “R”) and the Master Directions dated 18^th February2021 (Exhibit “S”) issued by Respondent No. 2;

(a-i) That this Hon'ble Court be pleased to issue a Writ of Certiorari or any other appropriate Writ, order or direction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India to quash and set aside the decision dated 28 March 2022 (Ex. L Pg. 208 of the Petition) communicated by the Reserve Bank of India (Centralised Receipt and Processing Centre) issued with the approval of Respondent No. 7 whereby the Ombudsman has rejected the complaint bearing no. N202122021018946 filed by the Petitioner.

(a-2) That this Hon'ble Court be pleased to direct Respondent No. 3 and 4 to refund the amount fraudulently transferred from the bank account of the Petitioner and also issue directions to Respondent No. 3 and 4 to extend cooperation to investigating agency by providing necessary KYCs and other related documents;

b. issue a writ of mandamus or a writ in the nature of mandamus or any other writ, order or direction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India to direct Respondent No. 1 to initiate appropriate action against Respondent No.5 for violation of Department of Telecom’s Instruction dated 01.08.2016 bearing File no. 800-09/2010-VAS (part) (Exhibit “V”);

c. issue a writ of mandamus or a writ in the nature of mandamus or any other writ, order or direction under Article 226 of t