The additional district consumer dispute redressal forum in the city has directed Pune Cantonment Cooperative Bank Ltd to pay Rs 4.65 lakh to its customers Raju Shedge and his wife Smita Shedge.

The couple had filed a complaint against the bank as it had failed to pay the promised maturity amount of Rs 4 lakh against four fixed deposits (FD) amounting to Rs 80,000. " I had made four joint FDs with my wife in August 1998 under the 'Roupya Mahotsavi Lakshadhish Yojana' of Pune Cantonment Bank. Each FD was of Rs 20,000 and we were assured in writing that the interest rate would be 16.42 per cent per annum," said Raju Shedge. The FDs were to mature in August 2008 and the maturity amount was Rs 4 lakh.

In 2004, the Bank conveyed to Shedge that the RBI had reduced the interest rate from 16.42 per cent to 10 per cent per annum. In 2006, again, the Bank informed Shedge in writing that the interest rate has been further reduced to 8.5 per cent. As per the court order, the FD receipt said in a note that the rate of interest on the deposit was subject to directives of RBI issued from time to time. "Directives of RBI were not furnished to the complainant (Shedge)," the court order said.