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The fee, comprising presiding member AVM J Rajendra and judicial member Anoop Kumar Mendiratta, was listening to an enchantment filed by Procure Logistics Providers Pvt Ltd towards the Axis Financial institution.
In an order dated March 10, the fee stated, “The financial institution clearly failed by repeatedly disallowing the complainant to deposit the notified money into its personal KYC-compliant account, regardless of a number of requests and endured with this until the complete timeline lapses.”
It was alleged that the financial institution refused to simply accept the notes throughout the restricted interval allowed after the federal government introduced demonetisation on November 8, 2016.
The fee famous that nothing prevented the financial institution from accepting the money and reporting the transaction to authorities if it discovered it suspicious.
“If the transactions appeared suspicious, the financial institution was required to watch and report them to the competent authorities. The statutory framework didn’t empower the financial institution to unilaterally refuse acceptance of deposits in a KYC-compliant account throughout the permitted window,” the fee stated.The fee stated that the outright denial disadvantaged the complainant of the one lawful alternative to deposit the demonetised forex inside the notified interval.
Because of the refusal, the corporate suffered a direct and irreversible loss as the desired financial institution notes in its possession turned nugatory after the deadline expired, the fee noticed.
“This clearly constitutes ‘deficiency in service’ as outlined beneath Part 2(1)(g) of the Shopper Safety Act, 1986. That is unbiased of the legality or in any other case of the regulatory framework governing the demonetisation processes,” it stated.
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The fee stated that the acceptance of deposits in duly maintained accounts was an undisputed core banking service and obligated the financial institution to behave in accordance with the legislation.
“If any transaction, which is in any other case permitted, is to be refused, the identical shall be based mostly on cogent causes duly communicated and supported by relevant regulatory norms,” the fee stated in its order.
It then ordered Axis Financial institution to pay Procure Logistics Providers Pvt Ltd Rs 3.19 crore with easy curiosity at 6 per cent every year from December 30, 2016, until the date of cost.
The fee stated that the quantity should be paid inside two months, failing which the financial institution could be liable to pay curiosity at 9 per cent every year for the delayed interval.
