ICICI Bank has been directed by the court to pay Rs.20,000 as a compensation to a consumer. Court termed the act of sending recovery agents as “uncivilized” and instructed the bank to pay compensation to a consumer for sending musclemen to his home.
The complainant Rahul Sharma had filed the case before the Delhi State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission that he got threatening calls and musclemen were sent to his home for the recovery of unpaid installments of a house loan he had taken. The court ordered bank to pay the compensation and Rs 2,000 as the cost of litigation to the complainant.
"In a democratic society governed by rule of law, any other method of recovery of dues from the person who had taken loan from the bank or financier is not permissible. Threatening calls on telephone to recover the amount due and using muscle power by sending musclemen to the house of the borrower is a highly uncivilized act," commission president Justice J D Kapoor ruled.
The case was filed in 2004 when Sharma took a home loan of Rs 450,000 from the bank. The loan amount was payable in 240 EMIs.
Till September 2005 there was no problem but on Sep 19, Rahul was asked to issue the cheques against the EMI as these could not be realized through the electronic clearing service (ECS), by the bank.
Therefore, he issued cheques of the required amount for consecutive months as directed by the bank.
Despite making the full payment, bank used to send musclemen to his house to threaten his family members in abusive language, Sharma stated in his complaint.
But the bank termed the complaint as frivolous and stated that as Sharma had failed to pay his installments on time, the bank is well within its rights to recover its dues. The commission rejected the bank's contention.
The commission in its judgment stated, "The legal process may be slow but it is no excuse for employing musclemen. Such type of 'instant justice' cannot be permitted in a civilized society where there is effective rule of law. Otherwise, it would result in anarchy, that too, when the borrower retorts and uses force".
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