Axis Bank asked to pay Rs 1 lakh to a Hyderabad client

HYDERABAD: The Telangana District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has asked Axis Bank to pay a Hyderabad resident Rs. 1 lakh as a compensation for causing mental anguish to the latter by giving a deficient service.

I Padmajarani, a 45-year-old government employee from Komaplly, Medchal-Malkajgiri Dist. Hyderabad, borrowed Rs. 20,00,000 from Axis Bank Ltd Loan Centre in Secunderabad and paid it back on July 21, 2021. She even provided the bank with the original documents for her properties as a guarantee.

The complainant urged that the relevant bank officials return her original documents pertaining to her house and agricultural land, which she had not received from the bank party since then.

She also claimed that she was unable to sell the house to a third party due to a lack of property documents that were held by Axis Bank.

According to findings, the complainant paid off the entire loan balance owed to the bank on July 2, 2021. The bank reportedly gave the complainant a 'no-dues' certificate, entitling her to get her original property documents. But the process has been delayed ever since.

The complainant asserted that the bank's blatant failure to return the original documents, despite the full repayment of the loan, constituted a deficiency in service and an unfair business practise that had caused her extreme hardship, mental anguish, and serious inconvenience, in addition to irreparable financial loss.

But the complainant was informed that the original title documents needed to be picked up from the bank's branch office. The bank officials asserted that because of the COVID-19 pandemic, a majority of the employees at their branch office had not resumed work, and as a result, the bank was unable to locate and deliver the relevant documents to the complainant.

According to the court's findings, there is no dispute over the complainant's repayment of the loan balance and the issuance of the NOC in her favour, as well as no dispute over who is the rightful owner of the subject property and the title papers preserved by the mortgage. As a matter of fact, the consumer court determined that the complainant had the right to seek her original, registered sale deed documents.

The Consumer Forum ordered Axis Bank to pay compensation of Rs. 1,00,000 for causing mental anguish and deficiency of services, as well as Rs. 10,000 to cover the costs of the case. They also gave the bank staff the directive to return the original registered sale deed paperwork within 45 days of the issuance of orders.