Consumer forum imposes penalty of 50k on postal dept for withholding interest amount of customer
Udupi (Karnataka), May 10: A district consumer forum here has slapped a penalty of Rs 50,000 on India Post for failing to pay the interest amount on PPF contributions made by a customer and directed the department to remit the sum.
According to Ravindranath Shanbhag, convenor of the Human Rights Protection Federation, the postal department is the respondent in this matter. "This ruling came about after Kamath accused the postal department of deficient service for refusing to pay an interest sum of Rs 11 lakh on his investment in the central government-sponsored Public Provident Fund (PPF).”
Venkatesh Kamath, as the head of a Hindu Undivided Family (HUF), opened a Family Public Provident Fund (HUF) account at the Karkala Post Office for the benefit of his family members and his own retirement security.
The account was opened in 2001 for a 15-year tenure, with PPF contributions made annually.
Upon approaching the post office in 2016 for withdrawal, Kamath was advised by the postmaster to extend the PPF account for five additional years, a course he pursued until 2021, making regular contributions each year.
The post office duly recorded the contributions and accrued interest in Kamath's passbook. In March 2021, Kamath agreed to continue contributing for another five years, as suggested by the postmaster.
These transactions proceeded smoothly until March 2023, when a letter dated June 22, 2023, from the postal department caught him off guard. The Senior Post Superintendent at Puttur instructed Kamath to promptly close his PPF account and visit the post office with the necessary documents.
Upon inquiry with the postmaster regarding the letter, Kamath was informed of a new regulation issued on May 13, 2005, stipulating that henceforth, only individual Public Provident Fund Accounts could be opened, with family PPF accounts disallowed.
It was further stated that PPF accounts opened before May 13, 2005, should have been closed upon expiry (of 15 years), with no interest paid for the period after 2016. Kamath contested this, questioning how the postmaster could have advised him to contribute annually to the PPF account and duly record it in the passbook if such a regulation did not exist.
The postal department admitted to understanding the discrepancy only during an audit conducted on May 22, 2023. Subsequently, Kamath sought recourse through the Human Rights Protection Foundation (HRPF) in Udupi, which lodged a complaint on his behalf before the Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission in the district.
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Bondi Beach shooting suspect conducted firearms training with his father, Australian police say
Melbourne (AP): A man accused of killing 15 people at Sydney's Bondi Beach conducted firearms training in an area of New South Wales state outside of Sydney with his father, Australian police documents released on Monday allege.
The men recorded a video about their justification for the meticulously planned attack, according to a police statement of facts that was made public following Naveed Akram's video court appearance Monday from a Sydney hospital where he has been treated for an abdominal injury.
Officers wounded Akram at the scene of the Dec. 14 shooting and killed his father, 50-year-old Sajid Akram.
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The New South Wales state government confirmed Naveed Akram was transferred on Monday from a hospital to a prison. Neither facility was identified by authorities.
The statement alleges the 24-year-old and his father began their attack by throwing four improvised explosive devices toward a crowd celebrating an annual Jewish event at Bondi Beach, but the devices failed to explode.
Police described the devices as three aluminium pipe bombs and a tennis ball bomb containing an explosive, black powder and steel ball bearings. None detonated, but police described them as “viable” IEDs.
Authorities have charged Akram with 59 offences, including 15 counts of murder, 40 counts of causing harm with intent to murder in relation to the wounded survivors and one count of committing a terrorist act.
The antisemitic attack at the start of the eight-day Hanukkah celebration was Australia's worst mass shooting since a lone gunman killed 35 people in Tasmania state in 1996.
The New South Wales government introduced draft laws to Parliament on Monday that Premier Chris Minns said would become the toughest in Australia.
The new restrictions would include making Australian citizenship a condition of qualifying for a firearms license. That would have excluded Sajid Akram, who was an Indian citizen with a permanent resident visa.
Sajid Akram also legally owned six rifles and shotguns. A new legal limit for recreational shooters would be a maximum of four guns.
Police said a video found on Naveed Akram's phone shows him with his father "reciting their political and religious views and appear to summarise their justification for the Bondi terrorist attack.”
The men are seen in the video “condemning the acts of Zionists” while they also “adhere to a religiously motivated ideology linked to the Islamic State,” police said.
Video shot in October shows them “firing shotguns and moving in a tactical manner” on grassland surrounded by trees, police said.
“There is evidence that the Accused and his father meticulously planned this terrorist attack for many months,” police allege.
