IMPORTANT POINT
Home Loan – Reduction in sale consideration, though indicative of financial prejudice, cannot be wholly attributed to loss of Title Documents or quantified solely on the basis of sale documents.

ORDER

Bharatkumar Pandya, Member.—The present Revision Petition has been filed by the Petitioner/OP against the order dated 25.10.2021 passed by the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Bengaluru (Principal Bench), in First Appeal No. 67 of 2021 arising out of the order dated 10.12.2020 passed by the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Banglore I, Shanthinagar, in Complaint Case No. 1673 of 2019, which was originally filed on 25.10.2019. The Petitioner/OP is aggrieved by the impugned order whereby the State Commission upheld the findings of the District Forum and dismissed the appeal filed by OP/Petitioner.

2. The complainant took a home loan of Rs.15,00,000/- from the Opposite Party-IDBI Bank on 15.03.2015 by mortgaging his property bearing No. 899, N-MIG-B, Ground Floor, Yelahanka New Town, Bangalore. He deposited the original title documents of the said property with the bank as security and signed all necessary loan documents. After paying the loan regularly, the complainant decided to sell his property for Rs.23,50,000/-. Accordingly, on 20.03.2019, he entered into an agreement for sale with one Mr. Ramesha C.N. for the said amount. Later, after clearing the entire outstanding loan amount, the complainant requested the bank to return his original title deeds. The bank issued a clearance certificate and No Objection Certificate (NOC) dated 03.06.2019 confirming closure of the loan. However, instead of returning the documents, the bank issued another letter dated 12.06.2019 (received by the complainant on 14.06.2019), stating that the original title deeds had been destroyed in a fire accident that took place on 11.12.2017 at the storage premises of the Stock Holding Corporation of India Ltd. (SHCIL), where the bank had kept the documents for safe custody. The complainant was shocked to know that the documents were destroyed two years earlier, but the bank never informed him until after he had repaid the entire loan. Because of this, the buyer Mr. Ramesha C.N. reduced the purchase price, and the complainant finally executed the sale deed on 14.06.2019 for only Rs.15,00,000/-, suffering a loss of Rs.8,50,000/-. After coming to know about the loss of his original property documents, the complainant sent a legal notice to the bank on 29.06.2019 demanding compensation of Rs.15,00,000/- for the financial loss he suffered due to the destruction of his title deeds. The bank replied to the notice on 26.07.2019 but did not offer any compensation. Feeling aggrieved, the complainant filed a consumer complaint before the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Bangalore, stating that the bank had been negligent and deficient in service by failing to keep his original documents safe and by not informing him in time about its destruction in the fire accident. In his complaint, the complainant requested the Forum to hold the Opposite Party-IDBI Bank responsible for such negligence and deficiency in service and to direct the bank to pay Rs.15,00,000/- as compensation for the loss he suffered due to the reduction in the sale price of his property from Rs.23,50,000/- to Rs.15,00,000/-. He also sought interest on the said amount, additional compensation for the mental agony, inconvenience, and harassment caused to him, as well as the cost of litigation, and prayed for any other reliefs deemed just and proper in the interest of justice.

2.1 The Opposite Party-IDBI Bank, in its written version, denied all allegations of negligence and deficiency in service. It stated that the complainant had availed a home loan of Rs.15,00,000/- by mortgaging his property bearing No.899, N-MIG-B, Ground Floor, Yelahanka New Town, Bangalore, and after disbursement, the original title documents were sent for safe custody to the Stock Holding Corporation of India Ltd. (SHCIL) at its centralized storage facility in Mumbai under a proper Service Level Agreement. The bank contended that SHCIL is a reputed and authorized custodian providing fireproof