IN THE TAMIL NADU STATE CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION, CHENNAI Present:Hon’ble Thiru. Justice R.SUBBIAH ... PRESIDENT F.A. No.339 of 2022 (Against the Order, dated 31.08.2021 in C.C. No.31/17, on the file of the DCDRC, Dharmapuri @ Krishnagiri)

Orders pronounced on: .09.2023

1.The ICICI Bank Ltd., Corporate Office, ICICI Bank Towers, Bandra – Kurla Complex, Mumbai 400 051.

2. The ICICI Bank Ltd., Branch Office, Salem.

3. The ICICI Bank Ltd., Branch Office, Dharmapuri. ... Appellants/OP Nos.2, 3 & 4.

vs.

1.A.N.Jawahar, D.No.6/407, Theerthagiri Nagar, Palacode 636 808, Dharmapuri District. … R1/Complainant

2.The 3i Infotech Ltd., Tower#5, 3^rd to 6^th Floor, International Infotech Park, Vashi, Navi, Mumbai 400 703. … R2/1^st Opposite Party.

For Appellant : Mr.K.Kumaran Respondent No.1, argued party-in-person.

Respondent No.3, called absent.

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This First Appeal came up for final hearing on 18.08.2023 and, after hearing the parties and perusing the materials on record and having stood over for consideration till this day, this Commission passes the following:-

O R D E R

R.Subbiah, J. President .

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Aggrieved by the Order, dated 31.08.2021, passed in C.C. No.31 of 2017, by the DCDRC, Dharmapuri @ Krishnagiri, in partly allowing the Complaint filed by the 1^st respondent herein as complainant and directing the appellants herein/OP Nos.1 to 3 therein/ICIC Bank to pay to the complainant the share amount of Rs.87,000/- with interest @ 9% p.a. from 14.01.2008 till the date of realization and Rs.25,000/- as compensation, besides Rs.10,000/- towards costs, the appellants/ICICI Bank have come up with this present First Appeal.

2. For the sake of convenience, the parties are referred to in this Order as per their respective rankings before the District Commission.

It is the crux of the complaint that the complainant had purchased 60 equity shares of the OPs/Bank at Rs.890/- per share, for which, he made payment under two Demand Drafts, one dated 23.07.2007 for Rs.15,000/- and the other dated 31.12.2007, for Rs.23,400/-; that both the DDs were duly acknowledged by the OPs, however, they did not issue the Share Certificate; that, after repeated phone calls, the 1st OP replied on 06.01.2009, stating that the instruments were not traceable as the same would have been lost in transit and asking the complainant to get duplicate of the Drafts; that the amount paid by the complainant was not accounted for in the Demat Account Number that was maintained by the 1^st OP for share transactions and resultantly, the share was not allotted in time for receiving good profits from the hike in the share value; and that, due to the service deficiency of the OPs/ICICI Bank in having missed the DDs sent towards payment for the shares purchased, the complainant suffered heavy monetary loss and mental agony and hence, the Complaint before the District Forum, seeking to direct the OPs to pay to him a sum of Rs.15 lakh for the monetary loss sustained due to their failure in timely issuing the Share Certificate and a sum of Rs.5 lakh towards mental agony suffered by him due to the service deficiency on the part of the 1^st OP and to award costs.

The 4th OP filed a written version, which was adopted by the other OPs, and the main defence taken therein is that, after the DDs went missing, they came up with a settlement initiative on 13.03.2009, offering to pay to the complainant a sum of Rs.25,000/- as compensation and to credit 60 shares of Rs.10/- subject to furnishing of an acceptance letter by the complainant along with duplicate drafts, however, the complainant never co-operated in complying with the said aspect and whatever consequence followed, it was only due to the failure of the complainant to furnish the duplicate instruments; hence, there is no scope at all to attribute any service deficiency to the OPs. By denying the other allegations of the complainant and terming his grievance as highly imaginary, the OPs sought for dismissal of the complaint.

Before the Distri