A clerical mistake by the State Bank of Patiala (SBP) has cost it Rs 60,000. The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has found the bank to be deficient in services for the negligent act of its officials. Islam,an account bearer with the bank,had presented a cheque worth Rs 1.8 lakh to SBP in January,2011. The same was returned unpaid to the Mauli Jagran within ten days with a memorandum bearing remarks not drawn on us. It was three months later that the complainant was informed by the bank that the cheque was not ever presented to the drawee banks. The complainant alleged that by not presenting the cheque,the bank had caused him financial loss. In its defence,the bank maintained that its clearing branch had not cleared the cheque as Bank of Punjab (the bank to which the cheque was drawn on ) had ceased to function in 2005 after its merger with Centurion Bank which then became Centurion Bank of Punjab (CBP). But there was no question of encashment as CBP had merged with HDFC bank in2008. It was a clerical/human error that the clearing branch of the bank issued a memo mentioning not drawn on us instead of no such Bank of Punjab exists. They also pleaded that the complainant was well aware that he was being cheated and knew that there was no such bank as the Bank of Punjab.
