IN THE TAMILNADU STATE CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION, CHENNAI.

Present: Hon’ble THIRU JUSTICE R. SUBBIAH: PRESIDENT F.A. No. 07 of 2023 [Against the order dated 16.05.2022, passed in C.C.No.14 of 2019 by the DCDRC, Kanchipuram District @ Chengalpattu].

TUESDAY, THE 31^ST DAY OF DECEMBER, 2024 State Bank of India, Represented by its Manager, Sholinganallur Branch, No.94 & 95, 1^st Floor, Classic Garden, Ganesh Nagar, Sholinganallur, Chennai – 600 119. .. Appellant/Opposite Party.

- Vs –

Batakrushna Pradhan, S/o. Banamali Pradhan, No.123, 5^th Floor, M-Block, TNSCB-Chemmancherry, Sholinganallur – 600 119. … Respondent/Complainant.

Counsel for the Appellant/Opposite Party : M/s. S. Makesh. For the Respondent/Complainant : Party in person.

This appeal came up for final hearing on 20.12.2024 and upon hearing the arguments of the learned Counsel for the appellant/opposite party and on perusing the written arguments on both sides and the material records, this Commission made the following:-

O R D E R

THIRU. R.SUBBIAH J., PRESIDENT This appeal has been filed by the appellant/opposite party, as against the order dated 16.05.2022, passed in C.C.No.14 of 2019 by the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Kanchipuram District @ Chengalpattu, allowing the complaint filed by the Respondent/complainant herein.

2. The Appellant herein is the opposite party and the Respondent herein is the complainant before the District Commission. For the sake of convenience, the parties will be referred as per the rankings before the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Kanchipuram District @ Chengalpattu.

3. The case of the complainant is that he is having a Savings Bank account in the opposite party bank with Account No.31718198825 and his Debit Card No.4592000108565355. On 28.01.2019, the complainant, who was working as a Security Guard in Sholinganallur RLE International Pvt. Ltd. was in duty, received two SMS alerts to the effect viz. Rs.20,000/- plus Rs.20,000/- have been withdrawn at SBI ATM S5BA007886622STATION BAZAAR PURI, PURI (M) fm A\cx8825 Txn.248, 249 from Mobile No.7871629500 receipt and thus, total amount of Rs.40,000/- had been withdrawn without his knowledge. Immediately, he approached the opposite party and lodged an oral complaint. The opposite party Manager advised him to lodge a police complaint and also recommended for new debit card. The complainant lodged a complaint before the Sholinganallur Police Station on 29.01.2019 at 10.30 a.m., where he was asked to give the complaint to the Central Crime Branch, Bank Fraud Wing – Team XI, Veppery, Chennai – 7 and thereafter, he approached the opposite party with CSR Report, but the opposite party has not taken any action. In fact, the RBI issued a Circular on 31.10.2018 limiting liability of customer in an unauthorized electronic Banking Transaction. As per Clause 6 of the said Circular, a customer’s entitlement to zero liability shall arise where the unauthorised transaction occurs in the following events.

(i) Contributory fraud/negligence/deficiency on the part of the bank (irrespective of whether or not the transaction is reported by the customer).

(ii) Third Party breach where the deficiency lies neither with the bank nor with the customer but lies elsewhere in the system, and the customer notifies the bank within 20 working days of receiving the communication from the bank regarding the unauthorised transaction.

Further, over all liability of the customer in third party breaches is zero when the same was reported within 20 working days. The bank shall credit the amount involved in the unauthorized electronic transaction to the customer account within 20 working days from the date of notification from the customer. The burden of proving customer liability in case of unauthorized electronic banking transaction shall lie on the opposite party bank. It is the staff of the opposite party who played a fraud, rendered a deficiency in service and unlawfully enriched the money