Potturi Venkateswara Rao and Smt. Vanaja Iyyengar, Members. This is a complaint forwarded by the District Forum, Hyderabad to the Stte Commission, as the amount claimed by the .complainant is more than Rs. 1 \akh. The complainant filed the complaint before the District Forum Slating that she had pledged shares which she held in about thirty companies, with Rashtrapati Road Branch of Central Bank of India, Secunderabad. As she was informed by the Bank that she owed Rs. 35,000/- to the Bank, she discussed the matter with Mr. J.K. Digaria, the then official of the Bank and expressed her willingness to dispose of the shares and settle the dues. It was alleged in the complaint that whereas the amount that the complainant owed to the Bank was only Rs. 14,131.57 P Mr. J.K. Digaria falsely represented to the complainant that the amount due was Rs. 35,000/-: The shares were sold for Rs. 36,000/-. She claimed that the shares would have fetched atleast Rs. 60,000/- in open market in 1979 when they were sold by the Bank. In the complaint filed before the District Forum, the complainant did not specify the quantum of relief she sought for. Later the complainant sent a representation dated February 20, 1990 to the District Forum• quantifying the relief at Rs. 3,20,000/- and prayed that the case be transferred to the State Commission as the relief claimed exceeded one lakh of rupees. Accordingly, the District Forum transferred the case to the State Commission.

2. It was contended before the State Commission on behalf of the complainant that the complainant had trusted Mr. J.K. Digaria implicitly in the matter of disposal of shares pledged with the Central Bank of India and bonafide acted on his representation regarding his assessment of the worth of the shares and the amount the complainant was alleged to owe to the Bank. It was vehemently urged by the learned counsel for the complainant that Mr. J.K. Digaria cheated the complainant. It was the case of the complainant that had the Bank sold just enough number of shares to cover her overdraft of Rs. 14,131.57 the remaining shares would have fetched Rs. 1,84,639/- at the market value as on March 6, 1990 and that the interest on' that amount together with the dividends would have come to Rs. 50,000/- by the date the complaint was filed. The complainant further claimed the compensation of Rs. 1 lakh towards mental agony and other miscellaneous expenses.

3. It is submitted on behalf of the opposite party-Bank:

1. The complaint is not maintainable under the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986;

2. The transfer of the complaint by the District Forum, Hyderabad from its file to the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission is illegal and improper;

3. The claim made in the complaint has become stale and unenforceable; and

4. Having regard to the facts and circumstances of the case, the complainant is not entitled to any relief.

4. The case of the opposite party-Bank is that in the year 1977 the complainant opened an account in the Central Bank of India, R.P. Road Branch, Secunderabad. At that time, one by name, Mr. J.K. Digaria was working as an officer in that Branch Office. In the year 1978, the complainant transferred all her shares from the Bank of India to the Central Bank of India. The complainant was granted overdraft facilities on the security of pledge of the shares which the complainant held in different companies. By the letter dated October 27, 1979 written by the complainant to the Branch Manager, Central Bank of India, R.P. Road Branch, Secunderabad, the complainant requested the Bank to sell all the shares for not less than Rs. 35,000/- which were pledged be her with the Bank al1d credit the sale proceeds to her overdraft account It is stated that accordingly the Bank had sold all the shares through a recognized broker Mr. Gopaldas Javeri for a sum of Rs. 36,000/- and the sale proceeds were credited to the overdraft account of the complainant on November 3, 1979. The ove