Bank pulled up for honouring cheques without verification

Nirmal Laxmandas Jitwani, Canara Bank customer from Ambernath, alleged that the bank did not verify his signature before clearing cheques

A bank has been rapped up by the Thane district consumers forum for casual approach in dealing with customer funds and honouring cheques without due verification and has asked the concerned officials to pay a compensation of Rs 2.9 lakh to the aggrieved complainant.

The case relates to that of Nirmal Laxmandas Jitwani, who had an account with the Ambernath branch of the Canara Bank since 1996.

As per the complaint with the forum, on October 23, 2010, when he had got his passbook updated from the bank, he found that Rs 2.90 lakh had been disbursed by the bank on three different dates to one Ravi Kumar. The cheques were in series and had been 'honoured' between June to August 2010, with the amount ranging from Rs 50,000 to 90,000.

In his complaint, Jitwani informed the bank that he had never issued any such cheques to any Ravi Kumar and said that the money had been paid without verifying his signature.

However, the bank did not respond to his complaint, he told the Thane District Consumers Disputes Redressal Forum (TDCDRF) in his complaint and demanded a refund of Rs 2,90,000 with 12 per cent interest and also a compensation of Rs one lakh for his losses.

He sent a legal notice to the bank but in vain, he told the forum in his complaint while claiming damages.

The respondents, bank's senior manager T K Paul, manager P S Kadlag and officer G Bhosle, in their submission, told the forum that Jitwani had filed complaint in his personal capacity and also concealed the fact that he had already filed a criminal case in the courts. Hence, his complaint should be dismissed with compensation of Rs 25,000.

After hearing both the sides, forum president Umesh Javalikar and member N D Kadam on Friday observed that the bank has not produced the (record of) original signature (of the complainant) to the forum and it had failed to verify the signatures on the said cheques before honouring them.