ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company told to pay Rs 90,372

Chandigarh, December 16
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum-I, while rejecting the claim of a Sector-8 resident over the foreclosure amount charged by ICICI Bank, has directed ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company to pay Rs 90,372 along with 12 per cent interest per annum from the date of filing of the complaint till its realisation.
The forum, comprising president PD Goel and member Madanjit Kaur Sahota, also directed the insurance company to pay Rs 10,000 as costs of litigation to the complainant.
The complainant, Japji Kaur Cheema, had submitted that she had taken a housing loan of Rs 1,02,68,000 from ICICI Bank and was issued a life insurance policy by ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Co. as part of the loan agreement against one-time premium of Rs 2.68 lakh.
Later, a sum of Rs 19,474 was refunded to her out of the paid premium. She decided to foreclose the loan but the bank charged Rs 2,30,227 as prepayment/foreclosure charges from her, which was paid under protest as there was no clause in the loan agreement with regard to it.
She further averred that she surrendered the insurance policy with the request to the bank to refund the amount of premium but despite her repeated requests, only Rs 1,49,605 was refunded.
The bank, while taking some preliminary objections, said as per the agreement, they were supposed to charge 2 per cent amount as the foreclosure charges.
The insurance company denied that it was mandatory to obtain the insurance policy. It has been stated as per the terms and conditions of the insurance policy, if there is full repayment of the loan, then the policy holder is entitled to the surrender value, it claimed.
In the present case, after surrender of the insurance policy, the amount of Rs 1,49,505 was credited to the account of the complainant.
It was further pleaded that the complainant enjoyed the life cover till the policy was cancelled.
The forum, while giving relief to the bank observed that the insurance company had not produced on record any terms and conditions of the insurance policy that in case of full repayment of the loan, the policyholder was entitled to the surrender value.

Bharat Ratna now open to all, including sports icons

New Delhi, December 16
The government has modified the eligibility criteria for the Bharat Ratna paving the way for sportspersons such as hockey legend Dhyan Chand and cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar to be conferred the country’s highest civilian award.
The new rules, providing for eligibility of persons excelling in fields other than art, literature, science and public services for the Bharat Ratna, were notified on November 16, Sports Minister Ajay Maken told reporters here on Friday.
“I wrote a letter to the Home Minister on April 15. The Prime Minister and the Home Minister have very kindly agreed to change the norms. Now, the government has notified that for performance of highest order in any field of human endeavour Bharat Ratna could be awarded,” Maken said. He said the decision has paved the way for any sportsperson to get top award. The move comes amid clamour for giving the honour to Tendulkar for his outstanding contribution to cricket.
“For me as a Sports Minister, this is one of the biggest days for Indian sports and next biggest day I think will be the day when some sportsperson will be awarded the Bharat Ratna,” Maken further said.
Maken said Dhyan Chand and Tendulkar were the top contenders for the award.
“Both of them I think should be the top contenders. Ultimately, the decision has to be taken by the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister takes the decision and recommends it to the President,” he said.
The Bharat Ratna was instituted in 1954. Any person without distinction of race, occupation, position or sex is eligible for this award.
The number of annual awards is restricted to a maximum of three in a particular year. On conferment of the award, the recipient receives a Sanad (certificate) signed by the President and a medallion. So far, 41 people have got this award. The first three Indians, who received the prestigious award, were Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman, Chakravarti Rajagopalachari and Sarvapali Radhakrishnan in 1954.
There is no written provision that the award should be given to Indian citizens only. The award has been conferred on a naturalised Indian citizen Mother Teresa (1980) and to two non-Indians - Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan and Nelson Mandela (1990). Pandit Bhimsen Joshi was its last recipient.

ICICI Bank told to pay relief

Mohali, December 15
The Mohali Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has come to the rescue of a Chandigarh resident, Raghbir Singh, by directing the ICICI Bank to return the service charges levied on him by the bank.
Directing the bank to refund Rs 6,648, along with interest to the account holder, the forum comprising BS Mehandiratta and Dr SS Dhaliwal, president and member, respectively, stated that the amount should be refunded within a period of one month.
The complainant stated before the forum that he was having a savings bank account No.005801013217 with the bank and at the time of opening the account, he was told to maintain a minimum balance of Rs 5,000 in the account which he duly did.
However, the opposite party never sent him quarterly statements of the account which was mandatory. The bank even did not inform him about any change in the conditions of operation of the account. The complainant needed some money. He checked his balance from the ATM and learnt that there was an amount of Rs 54 only to his credit. He contacted the branch officer of the opposite party and procured a bank statement which showed that deductions had been made from his account at a rate of Rs 843 after every three months for not maintaining a minimum balance of Rs 10,000 with effect from October, 2008.
The bank withdrew from his account a sum of Rs 4,800 without informing him.
Holding the bank responsible for deficiency in service, the forum observed that the opposite party had failed to place on record any guidelines or criteria of the RBI allowing it to levy service charges at an exorbitant rate. “This amounts to unfair trade practice,” stated the forum.

Go Airlines penalised Rs 25,000

Panchkula, December 15
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum-I slapped a fine of Rs 25,000 on Go Airlines for its failure to provide connecting flight from Mumbai to Nagpur to an official of the Punjab Mandi Board.
The district forum comprising president PD Goel and members Rajinder Singh Gill and Madanjit Kaur Sahota also directed the opposite party to refund Rs 18,186 which he and his two colleagues had spent on purchasing air tickets of Indigo Flight and Rs 9,830 for three officials of the board. The forum also directed the opposite party to pay Rs 10,000 as cost of litigation to the complainants.
The complainants submitted that they had booked air tickets for their official tour from Chandigarh to Mumbai for attending the 71st Session of Indian Road Congress as official delegates. They reached the airport on time and got the boarding passes issued. Thereafter, the opposite party announced that the flight was late due to a technical fault and likely to take off at 2 pm. At 1 pm, the opposite party further announced that the flight would take off at 4 pm. They immediately approached the officer-in-charge of the opposite party and requested him to make some alternative arrangement for them to reach Mumbai through some other flight. The officer-in-charge assured them of arranging a connecting flight. But to their utter shock and surprise, when they reached Mumbai, the connecting flight had already been taken off. They averred that they had to purchase fresh air tickets of Indigo Airline for November 12 besides staying at a hotel in Mumbai at their own expenses.
The counsel for the opposite party pleaded that the flight had delayed due to some technical fault, which was beyond the control of the Airlines. The forum observed that the delayed flight had defeated the purpose of the complainants who were to attend the 71st Session of Indian Road Congress at Nagpur.

Bar suspends lawyer’s licence

Chandigarh, December 15
The Bar Council of the Punjab and Haryana High Court suspended Mohali-based lawyer Jagtar Singh’s licence for a period of one year here today.
The council suspended the licence on Hoshiarpur resident Rangila Ram’s complaint. According to sources, Rangila Ram had alleged that he had engaged Jagtar Singh for filling a case in the court. However, Jagtar Singh allegedly committed professional misconduct and breach of trust in collusion with the opposite party.

PIL Against Transport Policy

Approach probe agency, High Court to petitioner
Chandigarh, December 15
The Punjab and Haryana High Court today made it clear that Barrister-at-Law Himmat Singh Shergill could move the investigating agency for action against the Badals in the transport policy case.
Disposing of a petition filed by Shergill alleging manipulation in the transport policy to drive private bus operators towards profits, the Division Bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Surya Kant asserted: “We decline to entertain this public interest litigation in the present form and deem it appropriate to close the same by grant of liberty to the petitioner to approach the investigating agency for redress of his grievance and, thereafter, to approach the Court if he has any subsisting grievance in the matter".
Going into the reasons behind issuing the directions, the Bench asserted: “We will like to put on record, at the very outset, that we find it difficult to entertain this public interest litigation.
“If respondents number one and two (Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister) have committed any wrong, while in office, which has injured the public exchequer and has benefited their own interests, the petitioner should have taken recourse to the remedy available under the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, rather than approaching the Court by way of this public interest litigation seeking directions for registration of a criminal case and investigation of the same.
“If a criminal act has been occasioned, the affected party or any interested party is expected to approach the investigating agency by filing a FIR, instead of seeking orders from the Court by means of a public interest litigation. The role of the Court in such matters is extremely limited. By way of illustration, persistent refusal by the investigating agency to act in the matter or to carry out an investigation in a fair and proper manner may justify an approach to the Court and its intervention”.
According to the petitioner, such investigation should be in respect of the information available in the news-items published in The Tribune, details of which are available in the writ petition.

New taxi agreement is good for passengers but cab drivers say bad for them

EDMONTON - A system that, for the past five years, has determined where cab drivers can pick up and drop off passengers is about to change.

When the Leduc-based company, Airport Taxi won the contract to serve the Edmonton International Airport in 2006, its drivers weren't allowed to pick up passengers in Edmonton, and Edmonton cabbies couldn't take an airport fare back.

An agreement reached on Wednesday between City Council and the airport authority will see that the next company to win the contract serving the airport when the current one is up in May, must have a license for its drivers to serve in Edmonton, as well, though.

That means more cabs on city streets, which is a win for passengers, but has a lot of cab drivers up in arms.

"We are issuing 100 new addition licenses for the taxi industry in return for having the Edmonton International Airport available to Edmonton taxi drivers," says Councillor Amarjeet Sohi.

50 of those new licenses will be for regular cab plates, while the other 50 will be for accessible cab plates, which some drivers say there is not enough demand for.

"There's very few people calling handicapped vans. They end up taking regular trips. It becomes totally pointless adding more into what's already congested," says taxi driver Naz Goray.

Drivers who normally service the airport are also upset, saying they're losing their bread and butter.

"The city council look like they giving the people who can't even cover the city of edmonton more job...and taking our job away (sic)," says Airport Taxi driver, Ali Dhorre.

The new cabs are expected to hit city streets this spring. Those selected for the new plates will have 60 days to bring the new cabs into service.

City Council is also looking at one other change: in most major cities around the world, passengers simply flag down a cab to get a ride. Here in Edmonton, though, there are restrictive rules as to where a cab can pick up a fare. City councillors say they want to loosen those rules and will be talking more about how to do it this spring.