Dear Mr Sarbajit,Pls see below information wrt one of my problems."I had
requested Kotak Mahindra Bank (KMB) to open an NRE Savings Account for me. I
had also applied for a "TwoWay Sweep (TWS)" with my NRE Account, which was not
provided by the bank. When I enquired, they told me that the feature was not
available for NRE Accounts. I later came to know that the feature had always
been available with NRE Accounts in KMB. I approached the Bank for compensation
as I had lost almost Rs 50K as interest on my money in the NRE Account. When
the Bank refused, I escalated the matter to the Banking Ombudsman (BO), New
Delhi. In between, I had also approached the Bank's Nodal Officer, but he too
had not accepted my request.2. After the Bank refused to agree with my
contentions, the BO's office fixed a conciliatory meeting in RBI in endMay 09.
During the meeting, the Bank officials claimed that I had never asked for the
TWS to be made available to me. They further stated that I had not t
icked the required box in the AOF requesting for this feature. I had, in fact,
ticked the required box in the AOF. The BO asked the Bank to produce the AOF,
but the bank officials said they had not brought the same. The BO asked them to
submit the AOF to their office by the next day.3. The BO closed my complaint
under para 13 (c) of the amended BO Scheme 2006 on the grounds that it required
going through extensive oral and documentary evidence which was not possible
under the BO Scheme. 4. After the conciliation meeting, I requested the BO's
office to send a copy of the AOF submitted by KMB to me also for my
confirmation as I suspected some foul play by the Bank. When the BO's Office
refused to give me a copy of the AOF, I sent an application to RBI under the
RTI Act 2005, asking for a copy of the AOF submitted by the Bank. I received
the AOF sometime back and was aghast to see that the AOF submitted by KMB to
the BO's office was a forged document. The signatures on the form
were not mine at all. Also, the signatures of my wife on the form, who was
the mandate holder, had also been forged. 5. It is very likely that the people
in the BO New Delhi's Office are working in connivance with the Bank officials
to ensure that their wrong doings are covered up. I intend taking the case to
its logical conclusion. Can somebody advise the best way out for me
hereafter".In the above matter, I had complained about my forged signatures to
the BO, New Delhi in Fen 2010. They forwarded the complaint to the Department
of Banking Supervision in Feb itself. The DBS sent my complaint to KMB, but I
haven't heard from them since then. On telephone I came to know that the DBS
has recd the reply of KMB, but I have not been told anything.I would be
grateful if you could please advise me on this. I have sent another RTI to RBI
enquiring a lot of things wrt my complaint's handling by the BO. Since I did
not receive any reply from the CPIO, I have sent an email, escalating
the RTI to the FAA.Thanks/BrgdsAK AnandDear rtiindia ! Get Yourself a cool,
short @in.com Email ID now!
