National Consumer Disputes Resolution Commission (NCDRC): The appellant applied to the respondent bank for a loan of Rs 9,00,000, but only a loan of Rs. 5,25,000 was sanctioned. The appellant produced as evidence a letter signed by the Respondent-Branch Manager wherein the respondent expressed inability to sanction a loan of Rs. 9,00,000 at the moment due to unavailability of subsidy. The respondent assured to sanction a sum of Rs.5,00,00 and the balance amount after the subsidy amount was received.
The respondent produced the letter of arrangement, entered into4 days after the assurance received by the appellant, which clearly showed that the sanctioned amount was only Rs. 5,25,000, of which Rs. 1,94, 750 was as premium loan, Rs. 3,04,000 as working capital and Rs. 26,250 to be arranged by the appellant himself. This breakdown was according to the application cum receipt issued by the Khadi and Village Industries Commission which stated the cost of the project as Rs. 5,25,000.
The District Forum and State Commission both rejected the appellant’s stand, hence he approached NCDRC. The NCDRC was of the view that a mere assurance by the bank manager that a greater sum shall be sanctioned cannot be treated as a binding condition on the actual sanction of the loan. Since the letter of arrangement, which was issued on 30.06.2009, 4 days after the letter produced by the appellant, mentions the sanctioned amount as Rs. 5,25,000, the same has to be treated as final.
The counsel for the appellant drew the NCDRC’s attention to a nomination letter dated 31.03.2009 which stated the loan amount to be Rs. 9,50,000 and was duly attested by the respondent. However, more documentary evidence from July 2009, which admitted the actual amount to be Rs. 5,25,000 by the appellant himself was produced and hence the NCDRC held that a bank has to sanction loan by way of issuing a proper sanction letter and only the amount mentioned in the sanction letter can be said to be a loan amount sanctioned by the bank.
Having found no reason for interference with the decision of the lower authorities, the revision petition was dismissed. [Nisar Ahmed v. Branch Manager, State Bank of India, Revision Petition No. 2562/2017, decided on 24.05.2018]
