What are the duties of bankers towards the customers? A banker is not like a school teacher who can afford to get away with beating his customers over the knuckles.
Can a banker refuse to release a fixed deposit instrument on demand?
When bankers get arrogant – they seem to forget the basic thumb rule that:
- They do not own the money they are playing with.
- They are simply custodians of the public money
- Their duties do not allow them to act against the interest of the customer
This issue becomes relevant as the officials in the HDFC bank Raj Nagar, Ghaziabad are refusing to release a fixed deposit for Rs 1,47,027.
If bankers don’t honour legal documents issued by them– why should anyone accept a piece of paper whether it is a FD, cheque or demand draft in return for hard cash deposited in the bank?
The plea taken by the bank is that the FD was pledged for issuing a bank guarantee.
The bank guarantee in question expired in February 2015.
Subsequently the FD was renewed and a fresh renewal advise was issued to the customer.
Why is this not being honored? Does it not amount to fraud?
When you issue something knowing well that it would not be honored it amounts to fraud.
The validity and value of instruments like FD, cheque or demand draft is only based on the assumption that they will be honored on demand.
This is a serious violation of consumer rights.
Maybe the Secretary, Financial Services, RBI banking Division, SEBI or CBI Banking division may like to look into it to prevent flagrant abuse of powers and misuse of authority.
