CIRCUIT BENCH OF THE TAMIL NADU STATE CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION AT MADURAI @ District Court Campus, Madurai - 20 Present : Hon’ble Thiru Justice R. SUBBIAH … PRESIDENT F.A. No.867/2025 (Against Order dt.26.08.2025 in C.C.No.109/2025 on the file of DCDRC, Thanjavur)

TH DATED THIS THE 24 DAY OF FEBRUARY, 2026 The Manager, State Bank of India, VOC Nagar, Thanjavur. ... Appellant/Opposite Party.

Vs.

Dr. A.S. Sharadhamma, 139, Arulandha Ammal Nagar, th

8 Cross Street, Thanjavur – 613 007. … Respondent/Complainant.

Counsel for Appellant/Opposite Party : M/s. A. Rangarajan.

Counsel for Respondent/Complainant : M/s. Sankar.

The Respondent, as Complainant had filed a complaint before the District Commission against the opposite party praying for certain directions. The District Commission had passed an exparte order and allowed the complaint. Against which, this appeal has been preferred praying to set aside the exparte order of the District Commission, Thanjavur dated 26.08.2025 in C.C.No.109/2025.

This appeal is coming before me for hearing finally, today. Upon hearing the arguments of both sides through video conferencing and upon perusing the documents, lower court records and the order passed by the District Commission, this Commission made the following order in the open court.

ORDER THIRU.R.SUBBIAH, PRESIDENT(Open court)

1. The opposite party before the District Commission is the appellant herein.

2. The case of the complainant is that she is working as a Medical Officer at Tamil Nadu Government PHC and receiving her salary in the savings bank account from the opposite party vide A/C.No.31884653486. On 05.11.2024, she received a SMS to her mobile No.9442155198 from AX-SLNEGG with a link saying YONOSBI reward Rs.12,980/-. Accidentally, she touched the link and the link directed to SBI YONO site. She logged in using her username and password. Immediately, she received an OTP and there showed a KYC updating upto 60% and also received a message that she has added a beneficiary account and within seconds Rs.50,000/- was debited from her account. She never added any beneficiary and she has not entered any amount but the beneficiary was added automatically and a sum of Rs.50,000/- was debited from her account automatically. The complainant never accessed profile section of internet banking on 05.11.2024 at 11.52.00 AM but her account was rd operated by an unknown 3 party and Rs.50,000/- was debited for which the SBI is responsible. A complaint has made a call over phone to SBI customer care immediately on 05.11.2024 and the staff provided a SBI Online Complaint No.539975313. The staff informed that the problem would be resolved within 3 months. She enquired about the status of the complaint after 3 months but there is no proper reply from the customer care. Similarly, the complainant approached the Cyber Crime and lodged a complaint, which was acknowledged by the police vide No.32911240031763 on the same day. The complainant was constrained to issue a legal notice to the opposite party, but the opposite party did not reply. Hence, alleging deficiency in service, the complainant has filed this complaint to direct the opposite party to return back the lost amount of Rs.50,000/- which was debited from her account and to pay a sum of Rs.1,00,000/- as compensation for mental agony and to pay the litigation cost.

3. Though notice was served on the appellant/opposite party, they remained absent before the District Commission. Hence, an exparte order was passed in favour of the respondent/complainant by holding that there is deficiency in service on the part of the opposite party and thus directed them to pay a sum of Rs.50,000/- towards the debited amount by YONO App along with interest at 9% from 05.11.2024 till the date of payment and to pay Rs.50,000/- towards compensation for mental agony and to pay Rs.10,000/- towards litigation cost to the complainant. Aggrieved over the order impugned, the opposite party had filed this appeal praying