ICICI Bank Ltd has got into the thick of things yet again, with a consumer forum ordering it to pay compensation to a customer, for taking money out of his account without his consent. The bank, had allegedly, withdrawn money from the customer, Sunil Kumar Jain’s credit card account and issued a medical policy without his consent.

"The bank argued that policy was issued to complainant on telephonic instructions. But it could not file any such record where daily telephonic messages are stored. The forum holds that it had issued medical policy without consent, authorisation and knowledge of complainant," forum President A K Jain said.

The bank has been asked to cough up Rs 10,000 as compensation to the complainant, Sunil Kumar Sinha, besides Rs 3,000 as cost of litigation.

Noting that the amount was withdrawn without any authorisation from Sunil, the panel, comprising S C Jain and M Siddiqui as members, also directed the bank to credit a sum of Rs 5,204 in his account.

In his complaint before the forum, Sinha, who possessed a credit card of ICICI Bank Ltd, has alleged that ICICI Lombard General Insurance Ltd had issued medical policy in his and family members' names without any consent or authorisation.

He also submitted to the forum that his protest met with the bank’s usage of own terms. In his complaint he said that when he protested the withdrawal of Rs 9,000 from his account, the company refunded him just Rs 7,000 but held back Rs 2,000 as service charge.