Mr. Justice J.D. Kapoor, President—On account of having passed a cheque of Rs. 35,000 without proper verification of the signature of the account holder as the cheque was allegedly forged and encashed by one of the dismissed employees of the respondent, the appellant Bank has been vide impugned order dated 15.2.2003, passed by the District Forum directed to pay the balance of Rs. 12,000 with interest @ 10% from 25.7.1998 besides Rs. 500 as damages as Rs. 23,000 were recovered from the said employee. Feeling aggrieved the appellant has directed this appeal.

2. We have perused the impugned order. The appellant Bank has taken resort to the following specific instructions written on the passbook of the consumer to absolve its liability. These are:

“Constituents should see that the cheque books received by their prescribed covers that the serial number of cheque forms indicated on those covers is intact. Cheque Books should be kept under lock and key and the constituents should not allow other persons to use cheques from their books. The bank will register instructions from the drawer regarding stop payment of a cheque, but it will not be responsible for loss in such a case, in the e