Mr. Justice M.S. Parikh, President—This appeal arises from order dated 2.1.2003 rendered by the learned Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Bharuch in Complaint Application No. 313 of 2000 directing the opponent State Bank of India to pay to the complainant Rs. 21,500/- wrongfully paid for the cheques payments of which were stopped from the side of the complainant, interest @ 9% p.a. and cost and compensation in the sum of Rs. 100/- each along with refund of Rs. 80/- being the charges recovered by the opponent Bank from the complainant while also making a rider that the Bank would be at liberty to prosecute the complainant and Mr. R.C. Patel in case it was found or suspected that they were in collusion to defraud the Bank in respect of payment of the cheques which were stopped for payment by the complainant.

2. We have heard the learned Advocate and the representative for the parties. We have gone through the impugned order. We had an occasion to peruse the counterfoil book from which the blank cheques were lost by the complainant and the statement of accounts from the pass book as also the original cheques in question coupled with the specimen signature card. We have returned t