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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Sambhal violence orchestrated by BJP, govt to divert attention from poll rigging: Akhilesh Yadav
Lucknow (PTI): Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday alleged the violence in Uttar Pradesh's Sambhal district over the survey of a mosque was "orchestrated" by the BJP, the government and the administration "to divert attention from electoral malpractice".
Police used tear gas and "minor force" in the face of stone pelting by locals in Sambhal on Sunday as tension escalated during a second survey of the Mughal-era mosque, claimed to be originally the site of an ancient Hindu temple.
Ten people have been detained and a probe was launched into the violence, an official said.
Tension has been brewing in Sambhal over the past few days after the Jama Masjid was surveyed last Tuesday on the orders of a local court following a petition that claimed that a Harihar temple stood at the site.
A day after the Uttar Pradesh bypoll results were declared and the Samajwadi Party managed to win just two seats while the BJP and its ally RLD bagged the other seven, Yadav levelled serious allegations against the police and administration.
"A serious incident occurred in Sambhal. A survey team was deliberately sent in the morning to disrupt discussions about the elections. The intention was to create chaos so that no debate on election issues could happen," the Samajwadi Party chief claimed.
Citing reports, he said several people were injured in the violence in Sambhal and asked when a survey of the mosque was already done, why was a new survey conducted again and "that too in the morning and without preparation?"
"I don't want to go into the legal or procedural aspects, but the other side was not even heard. This was intentionally done to provoke emotions and avoid discussions on election rigging," Yadav said.
"What happened in Sambhal was orchestrated by the BJP, the government and the administration to divert attention from electoral malpractices," the former UP chief minister alleged.
Asserting that in democracy, true victory comes from the people, not the system, he said, "The new democracy created by the BJP ensures that people cannot vote while the system dominates."
He added that whenever an impartial investigation takes place, and the truth comes out through booth recordings and CCTV footage, it will be evident that "voters did not cast their votes and someone else became the voter inside the booth".
Yadav claimed that on the polling day, the police and the administration removed the Samajwadi Party's almost all booth agents and many supporters who wanted to vote.
"If voters were prevented from voting, then who cast the votes? If Samajwadi Party votes didn't reach those booths and our candidate didn't get support, then who voted there? This is a serious issue," he said.
"Additionally, there were two types of slips, -- one with a red mark and another regular slip. We raised this issue on the voting day itself, stating that the administration had created such arrangements, leading to discrimination," Yadav alleged.
The Samajwadi Party's candidate for the Kundarki assembly bypoll Haji Rizwan too has alleged that his supporters were prevented from voting.
The BJP's Ramveer Singh won the bypoll in the Kundarki seat by a margin of over 1.45 lakh votes.
