Pune: The Bhandarkar road branch of the ICICI Bank was found guilty of not following the legal procedure properly while seizing the car from a Pune housewife, by the Pune district consumer disputes redressal forum and has been ordered to compensate her with an amount of Rs. 1 lakh

The woman had complained that the recovery agents had come at her home at night and seized the car, which had a laptop and CD changer in it. She had also accused the agents of causing damage to the car. Renu Bhandwalkar took a loan of Rs. 4 lakh from the bank in October 2003, at an interest rate of 12 percent. She had deposited 48 post-dated and two blank cheques with the bank towards the repayment. Bhandwalkar accused the bank that it did not follow her instructions and when two of her cheques were not realised, it sent recovery agents to her residence despite her willingness to deposit the required amount.

The bank however, had its own version of the story and refuted charges levied against it by Bhandwalkar. It informed the commission that she had defaulted in repaying six installments between 2004 and 2005 and the complaint should be dismissed by the forum. However, MRTPC took the decision in favor of the complainant.

There have been instances in the recent past when ICICI bank was snubbed and fined by premier regulating and legal agencies in India. A fine of Rs. 55 lakh was slapped on ICICI Bank for excesses committed by its recovery agents and few months back the bank also had to offer Rs. 15.5 lakhs as ex-gratia payments to a person who committed suicide due to alleged harassment by its loan recovery agents.

RBI has also raised its concern over loan recovery methods and formulated strict guidelines on recruitment, recovery methods and information related to the loan recovery agents. Reacting to the sudden spurt in such incidents the Indian Bank's Association (IBA) has also strongly pointed out the need for proper training of loan recovery agents.