Bank to pay for losing bounced cheque

The National Consumer Commission has directed Bank of Baroda to pay Rs. 3.6 lakh to a customer whose cheque the bank had lost. The customer had received a cheque from another person and he deposited it in the bank. But it bounced. Therefore, he wanted to initiate proceedings under the Negotiable Instruments Act against the drawer. The customer, Chitrodaya Babuji, asked the bank to return the invalid cheque, along with the memo to pursue his case. But the bank had lost the cheque and memo, disabling Babuji from pursuing the criminal case. He moved the district forum, which granted him only a meagre, compensation. He moved the Gujarat state consumer commission, which asked the bank to pay the full cheque amount to Babuji. The bank came in appeal, and the National Commission upheld the state commission order. “The bank has failed to return the cheque and so Babuji was deprived of his legal right to file a case against the account holder. Thus; he had to suffer a loss off Rs. 360,000. When the cheque had been lost by the bank, it is its responsibility to compensate the loss,” the judgment said.