Vadodara: The Vadodara Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (additional) has directed SBI Cards and Payments Services Ltd (SBI Cards) to pay Rs 15,000 to a credit card holder who disputed two transactions, ruling that the card issuer failed to prove he was responsible for the unauthorised payments.Shakil Pathan, a resident of Navayard, noticed transactions of Rs 7,499 and Rs 9,634 on his SBI credit card in July and Aug 2019. He told the commission that he had neither made nor authorised the payments.Pathan approached SBI Cards seeking a refund, but the company held him responsible for the transactions. He then filed a complaint before the consumer commission in Oct 2019, seeking Rs 20,000 for the financial loss and mental agony he had suffered.SBI Cards argued that the transactions were secure as one-time passwords (OTPs) had been sent to Pathan’s registered mobile number. The company said the payments could have resulted from leakage of his card verification value (CVV) or OTP and contended that the responsibility lay with the cardholder. It also argued that the merchants who received the payments had not been made parties to the complaint.The commission, however, relied on provisions of an RBI circular on unauthorised electronic banking transactions. It observed that the onus was on the bank or financial institution to establish that the customer was responsible for the disputed transactions.The forum noted that although SBI Cards claimed the payments had been made using OTPs sent to Pathan’s mobile phone, it had failed to produce evidence showing that Pathan himself had carried out the transactions.The commission also observed that under the RBI framework, when neither the bank nor the customer is at fault and an unauthorised transaction occurs due to a system error, the customer is entitled to compensation, subject to the applicable reporting timeline.It directed SBI Cards to pay Pathan Rs 10,000 towards the disputed loss and Rs 5,000 towards mental agony and litigation expenses.
