Times
of India: Chennai: Monday, 20 October 2014.
Five years.
That's how long it took an applicant to recover 1,000 from the regional
passport office.
S V
Elumalaiyan of Vellore said on January 30, 2009 he had submitted an application
for passport along with the stipulated demand draft for 1,000 drawn from Indian
Overseas Bank (IOB) at the regional passport office (RPO) at Shastri Bhavan in
Chennai. Subsequently, he received a communication directing him to submit a
fresh DD as the one submitted before had "lost its validity." On
September 15, he sent another DD drawn from Indian Bank, Elumalaiyan said.
Despite
submitting a new DD, he did not receive the one submitted earlier. He sent
several representations to the passport office through fax and email, but there
was no response. He then filed an RTI application seeking to know the status of
the first DD. Replying to the query, the passport office said, "The
invalid DD could not be traced in spite of their strenuous efforts."
Elumalaiyan then approached IOB for information on the "untraceable"
DD. The bank said the DD had been encashed and deposited in the account of the
RPO, said Elumalaiyan.
In November
2011, he sent a representation to the RPO with the evidence that the 'invalid
DD' had been encashed. The RPO, in its reply, agreed. His request for refund,
however, went without a response. Elumalaiyan then moved the forum.
In its
counter, the passport office said they could not furnish the details of the DD
as Elumalaiyan had failed to provide its serial number. The South Chennai
district consumer disputes redressal forum said Elumaliayan had twice informed
the RPO about the details of the DD. "This fact had been suppressed before
the forum and the RPO was aware that the DD had been encashed," the bench
comprising president D Krishnaraja and members L Deenadayalan and K Amala said
in a recent order.
Rapping the
office for deficiency in service, the forum directed it to refund the amount
with 9% interest along with 5,000 as case costs.
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