Hon'ble Supreme Court Judgement - Breaking up of locker and delivery of content thereof - Liability of Bank
Today we will discuss the judgement of the hon'ble supreme court of India regarding the Breaking of locker and contents thereof - Liability of the Bank. This judgement came on 19/02/2021 for civil appeal No 3966/2020.
Friends just see how a mistake or not following guideline properly put a Bank or banker in a very serious situation. It is a matter of the early 1950s where an appellants mother took a locker from a bank. Initially, she was the only holder of the locker but in 1970 she introduced her son as a joint holder with E/S mode of operation. After some time, the appellant's mother was deceased, he has deposited all the overdue amount of locker rent and visited the branch on 27/05/1995 to operate the locker. But on that day, he was informed that the bank had broken open his locker on 22/09/1994 for non-payment of rent dues from 1993 to 1994 and his locker has been allotted to another customer. This shocked the appellant as without any notice or intimation how can bank has broken open his locker.
Appellant proved that he has deposited all the overdue rent amount and also, he has not received any communication from the bank regarding the same. The Bank has admitted the error and also tendered an apology. Appellant also accepted the bank's apology and to just finish the things, he went to the branch to collect the content of the locker. The Bank handed over to him the two ornaments that were found in the locker, but the appellant claimed that there were seven ornaments in the locker. The Bank contended that only those two ornaments were found in the locker when it was broken open in the presence of an independent witness. Friends from here the dispute between the appellant of this case and the bank starts. On the one side appellant claiming that there were seven ornaments and on the other side Bank confirmed that there are only two ornaments.
Due to this dispute the appellant file a consumer complaint before the district forum to return the seven ornaments or pay Rs 3.00 lakhs towards cost and compensation. The district forum held the Bank liable and directed to pay Rs 3.00 lakhs towards the cost of jewellery and Rs 50000.00 as compensation for mental agony, harassment and cost of litigation. Against this decision, the bank filed an the appeal before the state commission, however, the appeal was dismissed by the state commission.
This matter is finally referred to the supreme court of India and after hearing all the appeal from both the parties, the hon’ble court has found the following observation
The Hon'ble court observes that there is no common guideline in the banks for the operation of lockers, this causes chaos between customer and Bank. The further court observes that due to this bank are under the mistaken impression that not knowing the contents of the locker exempts them from liability.
In this judgements at point 12 Hon’ble supreme court states that irrespective of the value of the articles placed inside the locker, the bank is under the separate obligation to ensure that proper procedures are followed while allotting and operating the lockers. Friends these procedures are very common that we use in our day-to-day routine work like maintaining locker and key register wherein out the entry of locker, operation should be maintained, official check the locker whether it is properly closed by the customer or not before allowing next customer to operate the locker, Bank has the power to break open the locker only by the relevant laws, due notice in writing shall be given to the locker holder etc.
In this the present case though the appellant has deposited the overdue amount then the Bank has inadvertently broken the locker. For this court has imposed a cost of Rs 5.00 lakhs on the bank which should be paid as compensation. The amount of Rs 5.00 lakhs shall be deducted from the salary of the erring officer if they are still in the service. If the erring officer has already retired the amount of costs should be paid by the bank. Additionally, the appellant shall be paid Rs 100000 as litigation expenses.
At point 15.1 of this judgement, the Hon’ble Supreme court of India directs the RBI to issue suitable rules or regulations as aforesaid within six months from the date of this judgement. Until such rules issued, the principle stated in this judgement, in general, and at para 13 in particular, shall remain binding upon the banks which providing locker or safe deposit facilities.
So friends from this case you have to realize that How not following the guideline put the Bank or Banker in a serious situation like this. So if you are working in locker operation then
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