Bank to pay Rs 1 akh for clearing forged cheques-times of India
MUMBAI: A consumer forum on Tuesday held a bank guilty of deficiency in service for clearing cheques with forged signatures without verifying those of the account holders. The forum directed Jankalyan Sahakari Bank to pay a compensation of Rs 1.12 lakh to a Vikhroli couple and also refund Rs 59,700 withdrawn through the disputed cheques.
Diwakar and Anusaya Singh had a joint account with the bank. On January 22 and 23, 2001, Diwakar deposited six cheques amounting to Rs 4,300. A day later, he issued a cheque of Rs 1,000 to his wife for household expenses. The cheque was dishonoured, though. When Diwakar contacted the bank manager, he was told there were insufficient funds in the account. The manager further said the money was withdrawn through seven cheques. On probing further, Diwakar got to know that Rs 45,000 was withdrawn from his savings account with cheques on which his signatures were forged. Despite repeated requests for compensation, the bank did not pay heed. Aggrieved, Diwakar and Anusaya filed a complaint before the Additional Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum on November 2, 2001.
The bank claimed the cheques were cleared only after verification. It further said since there was a very minute difference in the signature on the cheques and that admitted by Diwakar, it was not easily traceable in the normal course of business. The bank alleged that it was the couple's son who had withdrawn the money with the help of the disputed cheques and since they wanted to protect him, a police complaint was not filed. It said that it had filed a police complaint and investigations were on.
The Singhs submitted a report procured from a handwriting expert who confirmed that the signatures were different.
The forum said except for words in the written statement, no material was brought on record to show the son was the person who had committed the forgery. "Even accepting this fact for a moment, was it not a duty of the concerned officer to verify the admitted signature of the complainant with his signature on cheque? This has not been done by the bank for which no explanation is forthcoming."
what about customer liability who was so careless to keep his cheques in security...how come his signatures differs minutely....what about customer incovenience if bank employee starts ceasing of payment of cheques whose signatures differs slightly....now the bank will not pay the amount but it will ask the employee to pay who has cleared that cheque...total bullshit....thousands of cheque in clearing is it possible to call everybody becasue every signature differs minutely from the previous one...are bhai karne wale bhi to aadmi he to hai uski galti to customer se kam he hai
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