Bank asked to pay compensation for imposing penalty wrongfully

The consumer forum here has ordered a private bank to pay compensation of Rs 50,000 to an account holder for imposing penalty on him without intimating the change in the minimum balance requirement.
According to the complainant, advocate B L Sharma, the ICICI bank in September 2008 deducted Rs 843 from his savings account as a penalty for not keeping a minimum balance.
Sharma contended that the minimum balance as stipulated by the bank was Rs 5,000, and he had that much money in the account. The bank deducted another Rs 843 in December 2008, for the same reason.
When Sharma issued a notice to the bank, it replied that the minimum balance should be Rs 10,000 and not Rs 5,000. However, Sharma contended that the bank had never informed him about raising the minimum balance requirement.

He then asked the bank to return the remaining amount of Rs 5,707 and close the account. The bank did not respond, so he moved the Thane District Consumer Redressel Forum.
Forum president Umesh Jhawalikar and member N D Kadam in the order last week held, said: "The bank has not produced any proof of having intimated about increasing the minimum balance limit.

"As the respondents are the financial and banking institutes, it is essential that it has transparency in its dealings... Hence, it has been proved that the bank has not given credible service to the complainant," the forum said.

It ordered the bank to return within 30 days the balance amount in the account and close it. It also directed the bank to pay a compensation of Rs 50,000 to the complainant within 30 days.
When contacted, an ICICI Bank spokesperson was not immediately available for comments.