TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1999 (9) TMI 834
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....lished by the Central Government. The appeal filed by the bank before the National Commission under section 19 of the Act against the order of the State Commission was dismissed. Now it was directed that the complainant, the first respondent, is entitled to an amount of Rs. 3,01,103 with interest at the rate of 15 per cent per annum from 5-3-1991 till the date of payment. National Commission said that the complainant was entitled to Rs. 37,336 whereas it was paid only Rs. 29,062 on 4-3-1991. An amount of Rs. 8,304 was paid less which is equivalent in Indian currency of Rs. 3,01,102 as on 4-3-1991. 3. Two contentions have been raised by Mr. Dushyant Dave, the Senior Counsel appearing for the bank : (1) there was no deficiency in service as defined in clause (g) of section 2, and (2) Delhi State Commission had no jurisdiction to entertain the complaint as no cause of action arose within Delhi, Central Office of the bank was at Bombay and the branch office which issued the bank guarantee, subject-matter of the complaint, was at Saharanpur in the State of U.P. 4. Dany Dairy and Food Engineers Ltd. who is impleaded as second respondent, on 14-12-1988 entered into an agreement with....
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....t of Rs. 55,000 to the Saharanpur Branch of the Bank in the account of Dany Dairy and Food Engineers Ltd. On 24-4-1990 Area Manager of the first respondent wrote to the bank about the discussions he had with the officers of the Bank on 19-4-1990 when the Bank had decided to release payment of bank guarantee of Rs. 10,53,735 and that the matter had been taken up with the RBI (Reserve Bank of India) to release the money in foreign exchange. Thereafter, correspondence went on with the RBI seeking permission to release the money and RBI seeking certain clarifications. Immediately after the RBI had given its permission the amount was paid in the foreign currency which was equivalent to Rs. 10,53,735. 6. The question that arises for consideration is : If there has been any deficiency in service provided by the bank to the first respondent. Service under clause (o) of section 2 of the Act means 'service of any description which is made available to potential users and includes the provision of facilities in connection with banking, financing, insurance, transport, processing, supply of electrical or other energy, board or loading or both housing construction entertainment, amusement or....
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....ne or more following things, namely,- "(d)to pay such amount as may be awarded by it as compensation to the consumer for any loss or injury suffered by the consumer due to the negligence of the opposite party." 8. In Consumer Unity & Trust Society v. Chairman & Managing Director, Bank of Baroda [1995] (2) SCC 150 the employees of the respondent bank resorted to illegal strike which continued for 54 days. In complaint filed before the National Commission, it was urged that the bank was liable to pay various amounts to the customers like interest on overdrafts accounts to be reimbursed at lending rate during the period the account was not operative; interest at the lending rate on the Negotiable Instruments held in suspense during this period to be reimbursed to the customers etc. This Court referred to the definitions of 'service' and 'deficiency' appearing in clauses (o) and (g ) of section 2 and said that the expression 'any deficiency' widens the ambit of service and extends it to any service and even though the depositors were deprived of the service of the Bank but the deficiency did not arise due to one of the reasons mentioned in clause (g). This is how this Court consi....
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....and in our view National Commission and the State Commission were wrong in coming to the contrary conclusion. We would, however, like to point out that when it is a question of remittance of foreign exchange and permission of the RBI is required and there is a query raised by the RBI, it will be more appropriate to discuss the matter with the concerned official of the RBI than to have a prolonged correspondence. 10. Next question is regarding jurisdiction of the State Commission constituted for the National Capital Territory of Delhi. Under clause (p) of section 2 State Commission means a Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission established in a State under clause (b) of section 9. Under this clause (b) of section 9 a Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission to be known as the State Commission shall be established by the State Government in the State by notification. Section 16 provides for composition of the State Commission and section 17 for its jurisdiction. Under section 18, as noted above, procedure applicable to State Commission is same as contained in sections 12, 13 and 14 and the Rules made thereunder for the disposal of the complaints by the District Forum which shall, wi....