A person cannot claim damages from bank if he fails to immediately block his lost ATM and money is unauthorisedly withdrawn by using the card, a district consumer forum has said. It said the bank would have been liable if the transaction of withdrawal of money took place after blockage of the card. A bench of Central Delhi District Consumer forum passed the order while dismissing a complaint filed by a Faridabad resident Deepa Singh alleging that bank is liable for the compensation as it allowed illegal withdrawal of money from her account after she lost her ATM.
“Singh was having the PIN number and without that PIN number, the ATM card could not have been used. First the money was withdrawn and only thereafter the bank was informed to block the card.
“The bank complied the instructions of the complainant. The bank would have been liable if transaction of withdrawal of the amount would have taken after the blockage of the card by it,” the forum said.
The forum presided by its president BB Chaudhary also refused to pass any order against the bank for its failure to provide her video footage of the person who had used her ATM.
“The bank cannot be held liable merely because it could not provide the CCTV footage of the relevant time of the withdrawal of money. The CCTV is a machine and it may not function at a particular time,” it said.
Yes, I am agree with Mr.Chaudhary. Bank must not refuse in showing video footage.
THE DECISION OF HONOURABLE FORUM IS CORRECT,BUT BANK TO REFUSING VIDEO FOOTAGE IS NOT FAIR.
In some cases it has been observed that a valid holder of ATM card is not operating the card himself rather prefer to give his card and pin number to other reliable person who withdraw the amount in his behalf. In this case too the amount goes to the real holder and the operator is different. The decision given by the consumer court and the objection of the Bank is rational.Imposing liability on bank /s for the negligence of ATM Card holder is not Justified. It is also to be noted that ATM card can be used in any Nationalised Bank.Hence, ATM card holder should keep the card just like he keeps the liquid cash.A rapid action i.e intimation to bank in case of lost card is unavoidable and is only the way to prevent from unprecedeted loss.