Mumbai: A district consumer commission has directed Bank of Baroda (BoB) to give a customer ₹25,000 to help him get a copy of an agreement the bank had lost. The customer had mortgaged the agreement along with other documents while taking a home loan. After repaying the loan, he again took an education loan and repaid it. While he was given all the other papers, the agreement copy of the house was not provided.
The commission said that the bank should have come across to help the customer and offered financial help so that a copy of the agreement could be procured by the customer. The commission also directed the bank to pay ₹10,000 towards litigation cost to the complainant.
Mishra had purchased a house in March 1998 and an agreement was drawn up. The same year, he took a home loan from BoB and mortgaged all documents, including the registered copy. He repaid his entire loan amount and took another loan in August 2010; this time it was an education loan for his son, which was repaid by September 2015. After repaying the loans, he wrote to the bank and sought the papers that he had mortgaged.
Mishra approached bank many times but did not get the paper
The bank returned all the papers, except the agreement copy. Mishra approached the bank many times but did not get the paper, prompting him to approach the police. He also filed a consumer complaint. The bank eventually agreed that the paper was lost.
During the hearing at the commission, the latter observed that it was proven by the bank’s own submission that it had lost the document. It said that the bank should have offered to help the applicant and given financial help. Calling the loss of document deficiency in service, it directed the bank to give money towards procuring an agreement copy and compensation for causing mental agony in 60 days, else an interest of 9% per annum will have to be paid on it.
