Court orders compensation to a customer

The Kamrup District Consumer Court has ordered the Gurgaon based SBI Card & Payment Services Ltd and Chennai based Royal Sundaram Alliance Insurance Company to pay Rs 17,000 to a customer here for demanding money in an unauthorised way.
The court today also ordered for the compensation amount to be paid within 45 days to complainant Atul Chandra Dutta on whose behalf the Consumers' Legal Protection Forum had filed a case in the Kamrup District Consumer Court.
According to the case, Atul Chandra Dutta had owned an SBI Credit Card which he used from Sepetember 2006 to December 2006 and during this period he had purchased items equivalent to Rs 3710 by using the credit card.

The cheques for Rs 3710 were deposited through the agent of the SBI credit card and thereafter there was no purchase or use of the credit card, which was destroyed by crushing into pieces and returned to SBI Card and payment services Ltd.
In October 2006 Dutta had received a telephone call from M/S Royal Sundaram Alliance Insurance Company Limited, Chennai in reference to the SBI Credit Card asking him to open an Insurance Policy, and thereafter sent him a Hospital Cash Insurance Policy without Dutta's consent.
After receiving the Insurance Policy, Dutta objected to it and sent a letter in December 2006 for cancellation of the insurance Policy.

Inspite of his repeated objections the Insurance Company sent another policy to Dutta in February 2007 and after that SBI Credit Card authorities in Gurgaon, Haryana have been disturbing Dutta through telephone calls several times demanding money though he does not have any outstanding amount to be paid neither to the Insurance Company nor the SBI Credit Card, Dutta informed the Court.

He asked for furnishing the statement of outstanding balance but it was not furnished to him with the Insurance Company continuing to make phone calls several times for two years.
SBI Card and Payment Services Ltd also sent a Legal Notice to Dutta demanding payment of Rs 59477.27.

Suffering severe mental agony and physical strain Dutta filed a complaint with the Consumers' Legal Protection Forum.