Sanjay Kumar Mishra/Chandigarh
The Haryana Right to Service Commission has imposed penalty of Rs. 10,000 on the Agriculture Manager of Punjab National Bank's branch, Behal, Bhiwani for not providing the prescribed service within the stipulated timeframe to an applicant. Apart from this, a decision has also been given to provide compensation of Rs. 5,000 to the applicant.
A spokesperson from the commission, providing information about this, said that the Commission's Chief Commissioner, Sh. T.C. Gupta, took suo moto cognizance of the matter himself and a hearing was conducted for the resolution of this matter. It has been reported that in this case, Punjab National Bank, Behal branch officials including Branch Manager Manjeet and Agriculture Manager Mulayam Singh also participated in the hearing. The applicant was not provided with the loan on time, for which the commission took cognizance.
The Commission has carefully considered all the facts and circumstances of this case. There is no doubt that there is delay in sanction of the loan as well as disbursement by the bank. The spokesperson further stated that the commission has directed the Circle Head of Punjab National Bank, Rohtak, to ensure that the penalty amount is deducted from Mulayam Singh's April salary, which should not exceed one-third of the salary, and the remaining amount should be deducted next month.
The spokesperson informed that the applicant stated that he had been harassed by the bank over a period of more than one and a half years. The loan was sanctioned on July 1, 2022 and the animal was purchased on November 16, 2022 but the loan amount was not disbursed.
He informed that each time Sh. Mulayam singh, Agriculture Manager would ask him to provide one document or the other like copy of some application form, copy of some other documents, three stamp papers etc. It is only after the issuance of notice by the commission that the branch listened to him and disbursed the loan, he added.
The Commission has carefully considered all the facts and circumstances of this case. There is no doubt that there is delay in sanction of the loan as well as disbursement by the bank. The spokesperson further stated that the commission has directed the Circle Head of Punjab National Bank, Rohtak, to ensure that the penalty amount is deducted from Mulayam Singh's April salary, which should not exceed one-third of the salary, and the remaining amount should be deducted next month.
In addition, the commission has recommended initiating appropriate disciplinary action against Manjeet, Branch Manager, PNB-Behal, Haryana, and a request has been made to the Zonal Manager, PNB, Chandigarh to inform the commission about the action taken in this regard within 30 days of the issuance of these orders. It is noteworthy that Manjeet has been posted in this branch since August 2021 and Mulayam Singh since June 9, 2022.