STATE CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION, PUNJAB, CHANDIGARH.

Date of institution : 31.12.2024 Reserved on : 24.11.2025 Date of Decision : 18.12.2025

1. Yes Bank Limited, Guru Kanshi Marg, Bathinda through its Branch Manager Rashi Singla.

2. Yes Bank Limited, Regd. & Corporate Office at Yes Bank Tower, IFC 2, 15^th Floor, Senapati Bapat Marg, Elphinstone(W), Mumbai-

400013 through its Managing Director.

….Appellants/Opposite Parties Versus Veerpal Kaur, aged about 54 years, wife of Sh.Jaswinder Singh, Resident of Village Channu, District Sri Muktsar Sahib now resident of 3/9, Opp. Park View Palace, Guru Gobind Singh Nagar, Bathinda.

….…Respondent/Complainant First Appeal under Section 41 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 against the order dated 24.09.2024 passed by the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Moga in CC No.187 of 2020.

Quorum:-

Ms. Simarjot Kaur, Presiding Member Mr. Vishav Kant Garg, Member

1) Whether Reporters of the Newspapers may be allowed to see the Judgment? Yes/No

2) To be referred to the Reporters or not? Yes/No

3) Whether judgment should be reported in the Digest?

Yes/No Present:-

For the appellants : Sh.Ammish Goel, Advocate For the respondent : Sh.Hitesh Verma, Advocate SIMARJOT KAUR, PRESIDING MEMBER :

The Appellants/Opposite Parties No.1&2 have filed the present Appeal to challenge the impugned order dated 24.09.2024 passed by the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Bathinda (in short, “the District Commission”), whereby the Complaint filed by the Complainant had been partly allowed

2. It would be apposite to mention here that hereinafter the parties will be referred, as were arrayed before the District Commission.

3. Briefly, the facts of the case as made out by the Complainant in the Complaint filed before the District Commission are that the complainant was having Saving Bank Account No. 017190100008037 with the opposite party no.1 at Bathinda. Sh.Major Singh son of Sh. Jagga Singh, as per his liability towards the complainant, issued a Cheque No.731076 dated 22.01.2020 for an amount of Rs.8,00,000/- drawn on for A/c No.32596617175 maintained by him with State Bank of India. The complainant deposited the said cheque for encashment in her account no.017190100008037 with the opposite party no.1 on 23.01.2020. However, the payment of the cheque in question was not credited in her account till date nor the said cheque had been returned back to her by the opposite parties. A period of more than five months had already lapsed. The complainant repeatedly approached the opposite party no.1 and enquired about the cheque in question but the officials of the opposite party no.1 kept putting off the matter on the one pretext or the other. The complainant had also enquired about the cheque in question from the State Bank of India, Malout. The aforesaid cheque had not been received back in the said Bank. The officials of the opposite party no.1 failed to disclose anything to her. She had approached the local Police and lodged a complaint against the opposite parties regarding the same. Thereafter, the opposite party no.1 issued a letter dated 23.3.2020 wherein the opposite party no.1 had informed that the cheque in question had been lost in transit and the same was not traceable. At that time, there was lockdown/curfew in the country as well as in the State of Punjab due to outbreak of Covid-19 Pandemic w.e.f. 24.3.2020. The relaxation in the curfew/lockdown was operative from the first week of May, 2020. She had again visited the opposite party no.1 and requested them to make the payment of cheque in question in her account or to arrange duplicate cheque from the drawer Sh.Major Singh. They had refused to redress her grievance. Hence, the Complaint was filed by the Complainant with the prayer to issue directions to the opposite parties to pay an amount of Rs.8,00,000/- alongwith interest @ 1% per month w.e.f. 23.1.2020 i.e. from the date of deposit the cheque in question by the complainant in h