Hyderabad: The Hyderabad Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has ordered HDFC, Hyderguda, to compensate a couple from the city for losing their original land documents which they had mortgaged for a house loan. The forum directed HDFC to pay `5 lakh for the loss of the sale deed and Rs 25,000 towards costs.
According to the complainant T. Srilakshmi, 50, and her husband VSM Prabhakar, 55, they approached HDFC for a loan of Rs 15 lakh to construct a house on their plot in Mallapur. The bank sanctioned the loan on mortgage of the land documents.
Ms Srilakshmi, who is an employee of LIC, then secured a loan of `9.3 lakh from LIC Housing Finance. Using this money they cleared the loan with HDFC and sought their land documents in April 2013. After four months, HDFC informed them that the title deed had been misplaced on account of human error.
The couple informed LIC Housing Finance Limited of the problem. The financier issued a notice asking Ms Srilakshmi to repay the entire outstanding loan within 10 days since the original land document was not furnished. Ms Srilakshmi informed HDFC and asked it to pay LIC Housing Finance Limited, but there was no response. Following this, the couple approached the Hyderabad consumer disputes redressal forum.
At the forum, HDFC denied deficiency of service or negligence. It said that the land documents went missing inadvertently. "We exercised reasonable care," HDFC said, but blamed the missing documents on human error. HDFC said it would file a complaint with the police.
The Forum opined that as HDFC bank had not filed a certified copy of the sale deed which was misplaced in their hands, even as on today, it is a clear case of deficiency of service on their part.
The Forum directed HDFC to execute an indemnity bond agreeing to compensate the loss, if any that the complainant suffers in the future on account of loss of original document of title deed and other reliefs.
The Forum directed HDFC to pay `5 lakh to the complainant for causing loss of their sale deed and pay a sum of `25,000 towards the cost of litigation expenses incurred by the complainant.
