Consumer panel orders ICICI Bank to return `2 lakh to ATM fraud victim

The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) has asked the bank to also pay a compensation of Rs 2,000 to Haryana resident Karam Singh who lost Rs 2,07,368 during November 11, 2006 and February 2, 2007.

Singh had alleged that during the three months period, he failed to receive any transaction message from the bank.

The NCDRC has upheld the decision of lower foras asking the bank to pay a compensation of Rs 2,000 to Singh.

"The State Commission as well as the District Forum have based their conclusion on the issue of deactivation of the service of sending messages to the complainants for each transaction.

"It is clear from record that the SMS alert service had been provided by the Bank to the complainant. It is not understood, however, why the said service was not operational during the period in question, i.e., from November 21, 2006 to February 25, 2007," the NCDRC presiding member B C Gupta said. According to the complaint, the last transaction made by Singh was on November 20, 2006 and at that time, the balance amount left in the account was Rs 2,07,627. It further said that on February 26, 2007, when he wanted to withdraw some amount from the account, the ATM machine showed the balance amount as Rs 203 only.

It is alleged that the amount was fraudulently drawn from his account by somebody during the period November 21, 2006 to February 25, 2007, but he did not receive any message on his cell-phone during the said period.