Nawanshahr, October 7
While finding the local branches of HDFC Bank and HDFC Standard Life Insurance Company guilty of providing deficient service as well as lacking professional ethics, the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has directed them to refund a sum of Rs two lakh along with 6 per cent interest from the date of deposit till the date of payment and compensation of Rs 5,000 for the harassment caused to Jasveer Kaur of Kulam village within 30 days of the receipt of the copy of the decision otherwise proceedings under Section 27 will be initiated.
The complainant, Jasveer Kaur, through his counsel, Gaurav Sareen, had filed a complaint against HDFC Bank. Jasveer Kaur had said she had an account with HDFC Bank and in 2011, she had asked the bank official to convert an amount of Rs 2 lakh out of her saving account into FDR. The bank official took her signatures on papers on the pretext of fulfilling legal requirements for the same. In January this year, when she visited the bank to get her FDR en-cashed, the bank official handed over an insurance policy to her. As the bank official had invested his money with HDFC insurance policy instead of FDR as instructed by her, she immediately complained to the bank officials and requested to cancel the insurance policy issued in her name as breach of the trust. Surprisingly, a bogus birth certificate and wrong mention of parentage of the complainant was attached with the insurance policy.
HDFC Bank and HDFC Standard Life Insurance Company through their counsels, while denying the allegations said the case filed on the basis of wrong, distorted and concealed facts. In their replies, they maintained that the complainant had submitted a proposal/application on April 28, 2011, for the purchase of HDFC SL Crest Policy and subsequently, a policy bearing number 14377862 dated May 3, 2011, was issued to her. It was also maintained that the contents of proposal were read over and explained to the life assured in the language best known to her. The complainant was free to return the policy within free look period of 15 days.
Consumer forum president LN Sharma and members Karnail Singh and Sudha Sharma after hearing the arguments of the counsels of both the parties as well as verifying the documentary evidence put before the forum, concluded that the original policy documents were never sent to the complainant, hence the question of having exercised the option of free look period during which she could return the policy does not arise.
