Consumer Forum blames HDFC bank for illegal fund transfer

The district consumer redressal forum has directed the HDFC bank to pay a customer the total amount which had been transferred from his account without his authorisation.

In the order dated March 25, the Forum headed by M G Rahatgaokar held that the Bank failed to implement the guidelines issued by Reserve Bank of India for net banking facility.

Complainant Nikhil Phutane, who works with Qatar National Bank, had transferred Rs 4,60,000 to his account at HDFC Bank's Santacruz branch here in October 2008.

However, Phutane found that his balance was zero in November and the entire amount had been transferred -- through net banking -- to the account of Dinesh Shukla at Lucknow.

According to Phutane, he never authorised HDFC Bank to add Shukla's name to the list of "third party beneficiaries" on his online account.

A police complaint was lodged and Shukla and four others, including two Nigerian nationals, were arrested and Rs 70,500 recovered from them.

Phutane demanded that the bank return him rest of the amount as he was not at fault.

Since HDFC refused to pay him the balance amount, he filed a complaint with the Forum.

The bank argued that either Phutane inadvertently had revealed his transaction password to someone or the computer used by him had a virus.

It also argued that after request for fund transfer was received from his online account, an SMS and an email was sent to him for confirming the request. Since no reply came, the fund was transferred.

The Forum held that bank failed to prove that such an alert had been sent. Simply because Phutane failed to respond to mail, the bank should not have proceeded with transfer, it held.

The bank had failed to implement the "National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT) guidelines, issued by the RBI," the Forum said, asking it to pay Phutane the balance amount.

In addition, Forum also directed it to pay Rs 35,000 to the complainant on account of "mental agony" and legal expenses.