The battle may now go to court

Kumar’s card was cancelled because he allegedly delayed his payments on successive occasions. The bank says that the media baron’s payments were overdue for 60 days on two occasions and for 90 days once. According to Sujit Mitra, a senior manager at the bank, Kumar possessed a US Dollar Corporate Card which is a charge card and can be used only for overseas purchases. And unlike credit cards, outstanding amounts for charge cards have to be paid back within 14 days.

Repeated delays in payments for charge cards automatically leads to cancellation of membership. Mitra says that Kumar’s subsequent requests for reinstating the card were turned down because of his unsatisfactory credit history.

Kumar, however, points out, that the delays had resulted from various reasons. Soon after his card was cancelled on December 19, 1996, he wrote to the bank several times to explain his position.

“They did not consider my representations, even after I pointed out that neither they nor I had any problems with my domestic card — also from the same bank,” says Kumar. About the three occasions when payments of the charge card were delayed, Kumar gave a detailed account to Express Newsline. He says that on each of the occasions, postal delays and new banking procedures had led to an ugly situation.

Subsequently, he is informed that the payment should be made through a dollar cheque. Kumar says that this surprised him because all previous payments were made through rupee cheques.

Kumar receives another statement from the bank on June 3, 1996, saying that he still has to pay 421.83 dollars. Kumar writes to the bank on June 24, 1996, requesting the bank to return his previous cheque (no.521853) following which he would issue a dollar cheque.

But the bank sends another statement on July 1 without acknowledging Kumar’s letter. Kumar then writes to UBI to stop payment on his cheque (no.521853), and issues a dollar cheque to the bank on July 29, 1996.

The bank confirms on August 2, 1996, that they have received the dollar cheque and Kumar’s dues have been cleared.

This time, the bank does not object to the rupee cheque, but sends a letter and returns the cheque on Sepetember 23, 1996, pointing out that Kumar had not attached his Post Trip Declaration. Kumar sends the slip along with the cheque (no. 145323) three days later.

When the bank calls up to say that they have not received the cheque, Kumar first gets it cancelled and issues a fresh cheque (no. 632275 of Canara Bank) for the same amount on October 24,1996, along with another post trip declaration. The bank confirms that the cheque (no. 632275) was received on November 12, 1996.

The bank sent him a statement in this regard on December 3, 1996, asking him to clear his dues immediately to avoid cancellation of his card. Kumar sent a cheque, dated December 11, 1996, for Rs 885.65 (the conversion in rupees for 23.26 dollars).

But he received a letter from the bank, on December 19, 1996, stating that they had not received his cheque and therefore the card had been cancelled.