Finance firm, Cholamandalam DBS has been directed by the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum to compensate the customer for deducting EMI twice from his bank account.

Chandigarh based, Chander Mohan filed a complaint under Consumer Protection Act against the finance company when he found that his bank account was debited two times in a month for an EMI payment. The complainant had applied for a personal loan of Rs 35000 from Cholamandalam DBS, out of which Rs 31,623 was released by the company on April 30th, 2007. He had thereby selected ECS clearance from his bank account maintained with the Central Bank of India for the repayment mode. He was asked to pay an EMI of Rs 1,894.

As per the term and conditions Cholamandalam was authorized to draw EMI from his bank account only once in a month but in the month of July 2008, it allegedly deducted the EMI twice. Following this the complainant had moved to the forum.

The forum sent a legal notice to the finance firm to present their report on the issue but there were no response and therefore the case proceeded ex parte.

While giving the verdict, forum said: "Based on records in the passbook maintained with the Central Bank of India, it is clear that two EMIs were drawn from the complainant's account in one month. We find that company had adopted unfair trade practices."

The forum has directed the company to pay s 2,100 as compensation for harassing the customer.