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You will have to seek the help of the consumer court. On May 1 this year, the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission issued an order in a similar case. Ram Kishan and his wife Kailasho Devi deposited their money in what they believed to be fixed deposits. However, their banker took advantage of their faith in him and also their lack of understanding of English to get them to sign on forms that gave the bank permission to invest that money in stocks. When the couple asked the bank for FD certificates, the bank gave them passbooks and said the banking rules had changed. By the time the couple realised the fraud , it was too late. They sought the help of the consumer court to get back their money. Two factors helped the couple establish fraud : One, that the two officials who had defrauded them had been subsequently convicted in a criminal case for misappropriation of funds. Two, the forms on which they had signed were in English and the couple could not read these — in fact they had signed in Hindi. (State Bank of Patiala Vs RamKishan , RP NO 4320 of 2012) These days I find that swimming pools ask you to sign a paper saying that you will not hold the pool authorities responsible for any untoward accident. If you refuse to sign it, they will not give you membership at all. What are the implications of signing such a paper? In order to escape liability for any mishap that may happen, swimming pool authorities come up with such terms and conditions. However, these are standard, unilateral and unfair conditions being imposed by the pool authorities in a bid to protect their interests. But such terms will not save them in case of an accident caused by the negligence of those managing the pool. If you are asked to sign such a paper and have no other option but to sign in order to swim at the pool, you can do so under protest or send a letter later stating that it is an unfair condition and that you were forced into signing it. In Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad vs Abdul Azeez (first Appeal no 385 of 2004, decided in August 2009), the membership card given to Hameed, son of the complainant, who died at the pool, listed 20 terms and conditions. One of them was that "swimmers shall swim at their own risk". Citing this, the corporation authorities argued that they cannot be held liable for the death of 23-year-old Hameed. Dismissing such a contention and upholding the award of compensation to the parents, the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission made it clear such terms and conditions cannot absolve the pool authorities of their responsibility towards ensuring the safety of swimmers. In this case, the swimming pool authorities were so careless that they discovered that the boy had drowned in the pool only the next morning.
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On my retirement, I
deposited my pension in a bank FD, which I renewed subsequently. At
the time of renewal of deposit, the bank asked me to sign some papers.
Now I come to know that the bank fraudulently got me to sign papers
consenting to investing money in stocks and that that my deposits have
got depleted considerably. How do I recover my money?