Recover Money from Manager’s Salary: PSB Bank ordered to pay Fine to Customer

The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Shamli, has ordered the registration of an FIR against the then branch manager of Punjab & Sind Bank, Shamli — Rajkumar Garg — for embezzlement. The Commission also ordered the recovery of ₹42,000 from the manager and directed the bank to pay a fine of ₹1 lakh.

The Commission has ordered Bank to recover the amount from the salary of manager. This shows the tough stance of the commission. A few days earlier, the Bombay High Court had taken a strict action in the case of a man’s prolonged detention. Court ordered that compensation should be recovered from the District Magistrate’s salary for taking wrong decision. The court directed the state government to pay ₹2 lakh as compensation, which must be deducted from the District Magistrate’s salary.

The case was filed by a bank customer named Idrees, a resident of Mohalla Pansariyan, on November 12, 2020. He lodged a complaint against the Punjab & Sind Bank branch manager in Shamli, the regional manager in Dehradun, the general manager at the main office in New Delhi, and the then branch manager, Rajkumar Garg.

Idrees stated that he had taken a loan of ₹4.5 lakh for six cows and four buffaloes from the Shamli branch on September 19, 2012, under the Dairy Loan Priority Sector Scheme. He deposited ₹35,000 as margin money on September 14, 2012, and another ₹25,000 on October 3, 2012. The loan was approved after he submitted the original deed of his plot in Mohalla Pansariyan.

According to Idrees, the branch manager told him that he would get a discount of ₹1.25 lakh on his ₹4.5 lakh loan, which would be credited to his account within 30 months. The manager also said the loan would be cleared after 42 installments of ₹10,500 each. However, the manager fraudulently took ₹75,000 from Idrees, saying it would be returned once the discount was received. If not, it would be adjusted in the loan amount.

The complainant said he ended up paying ₹5.95 lakh in 50 installments instead of 42. Later, when the manager was transferred, the new branch manager said the file for the discount had not been sent to NABARD in Lucknow. As a result, Idrees’s account was marked as NPA, and recovery action began. The bank told him that only ₹5.53 lakh had been deposited in his loan account.

The Commission found that ₹42,000 was missing due to embezzlement and misappropriation by the then branch manager, Rajkumar Garg. It directed senior bank officials to conduct a departmental inquiry and ordered the SP, Shamli, to register an FIR and investigate.

The bank has also been instructed to recover ₹42,000 from Rajkumar Garg’s account and credit the amount to the complainant’s loan account.

Court Orders DM to pay compensation for taking wrong decision. Read here