Consumers beware!
Tragedy of errors

The process of rectification of a mistake in important documents is extremely complicated, time-consuming and frustrating. And often, the victim has to spend considerable time, energy and money to effect the required changes

Voter identity card, PAN card, birth certificate, marriage certificate, death certificate, passport are all extremely important documents, yet most officials issuing them often tend to be careless while issuing these and make huge mistakes.

In many voter ID cards, for example, the names are wrongly spelt, the name of the spouse or the parent is replaced with that of a stranger, the date of birth or the address is changed to suit the whims and fancies of the person issuing the card. It is not unusual to find similar mistakes in other important documents, too. Babies are turned younger or older at the stroke of a pen, male babies become females and vice versa.

Similarly, those issuing marriage certificates are known to carelessly change the name of the bride or the groom, causing not just embarrassment to the parties, but also harassment, if they are to apply for visas on the basis of those certificates.

Often, the cardholder has to face undue harassment due to errors in voter identity card and other important documents Tribune photo: Inderjeet Verma

What is frustrating in all these cases is that the process of rectification of the se mistake is extremely complicated, time-consuming and frustrating. And while the person who made these mistake in the first place goes unscathed, the victim has to spend considerable time and energy and may be money too, to effect the required changes.

Here is a case that showcases the ordeal faced by one such victim in getting a correction made in the PAN card and the problems that he faced on account of the error. Even though, he has not taken to task the person who made the mistake, but the one who delayed the correction and harassed him, it underscores the need for the government to urgently look at this problem and bring about course correction.

What is equally important here is the decision of the consumer court, holding the applicant to be a ‘consumer’, entitled to compensation for any deficiency in the service rendered by the agency. Also delay in issuing the card constitutes deficiency, the consumer court has held. This should go a long way in ensuring better service from these agencies.

This case has its origin in the PAN card issue to the complainant, Shivaraj R. Nelivigi from Karnataka. After getting the card, he found a mistake in his father’s name. So he sent an application to the Income Tax PAN Services Unit of the National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL), through TIN Facilitation Centre, along with the required documents. However, it did not carry out the correction. Subsequently, he sent another application. This time too, the body did not issue the corrected card.

Two years passed by, and the accounts of the complainant were frozen by the Stock Holding Corporation of India, interest earned by him on the investment was blocked, and he could not sell or purchase any shares and securities during the period. Upset and angry, he filed a complaint before the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, seeking a compensation of more than Rs 2 lakh.

In response, the NSDL argued that the complainant was not a consumer in the first place, and besides, it did not carry out the correction because he did not forward a copy of the Gazette notification or a certificate by a Gazetted Officer to confirm the correct name of his father. So, both the applications were closed. The complainant, on the other hand, argued that as per the letter of the NSDL, he was required to send either a certificate from a Gazetted Officer or from a Member of Parliament. Since he had sent the certificate from a Member of Parliament, he did not see any need to send a certificate from a Gazetted Officer.

The District Forum noted that first of all, the complainant was a consumer of the service being provided by the NSDL for a consideration — they had collected a fee of Rs 67.34 for carrying out the correction (services rendered free are outside the purview of the consumer courts). Unduly delaying the work, and not issuing the corrected PAN card constituted deficiency in this service and, therefore, the consumer was entitled to compensation. Accordingly, it directed the NSDL to issue the corrected PAN card within 30 days, pay a compensation of Rs 22,000 and costs of Rs 5,000.

When this order was confirmed by the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, the NSDL filed a revision petition before the apex consumer court, which confirmed deficiency on part of the NSDL, but on the ground that the card had since been delivered by the agency, reduced the compensation amount to Rs 5000. (National Securities Depository Limited, Income Tax Pan Services Unit Vs Shri Shivaraj R. Nelivigi, RP No 2900 of 2010, decided on January 5, 2012).

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