The Thane District Consumer Complaint Redressal Forum has directed a cooperative credit society to pay a compensation of Rs. 1 lakh to its account holder, besides returning his matured fixed deposits.
The credit society, which is facing financial issues, had argued that since an administrator had been appointed to run its operations, it is not liable to return the deposits of the account holder.
However, the forum president M Y Mankar, in his order passed recently observed that the society is bound to pay back the fixed deposit along with interest irrespective of whether an administrator has been appointed or not.
The case relates to one Arun Ganpat Karale, a resident of Yashodhan Nagar in Thane, who had kept his money in the fixed deposit scheme of the Sukh Shanti Co-operative Credit Society Ltd in 2008-09. Upon maturity, he was liable to get Rs. 1,11,375, including the principal amount. He had also kept Rs. 28,404 in the savings account of the society. However, when he went to claim it, the society refused to pay anything to him.
Karale then approached the forum stating that despite his repeated requests, the credit society had refused to pay Rs. 1,39,779. The complainant then sought a refund of the amount with 18 per cent interest, totaling to Rs. 1,94,184, besides a compensation of Rs. 25,000 and cost of complaint of Rs. 15,000.
However, the administrator, appointed under Section 78 of the Maharashtra Co operative Societies Act, filed his reply turning down all the claims of the complainant.
