The Gujarat State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has dismissed appeals filed by the Navrangpura and Mirzapur post offices, upholding lower consumer forum orders that held the postal department liable in a Public Provident Fund (PPF) fraud case.
The case arose from complaints filed by long-time investors Jayesh Shah and his wife, represented by advocate Rushang Mehta. The couple alleged that money deposited into their PPF accounts since 2001 had been misappropriated by an authorised postal agent.
According to their complaints, the couple had submitted crossed account-payee cheques worth Rs 3.71 lakh and Rs 3.89 lakh, respectively, in favour of the Postmaster, Ahmedabad. Although the amounts were debited from their bank accounts, only small portions were credited to their PPF accounts.
As a result, Rs 3.35 lakh from Shah’s account and Rs 3.78 lakh from his wife’s account remained unaccounted for.The alleged fraud came to light in 2014 when the couple was unable to contact the agent. They subsequently approached the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, which directed the postal department to refund the misappropriated amounts.
The postal department challenged the orders, arguing that the agent had been appointed by the Collector and that there was no employer-employee relationship between the agent and the department.However, the state commission bench comprising presiding member AC Raval and member PR Shah rejected the appeals.
The commission observed that the agent operated under an official agency number, bringing his actions within the scope of apparent authority.The commission also noted that the postal department had failed to explain how cheques issued in favour of the Postmaster could have been diverted without detection.
With the dismissal of the appeals, the lower consumer forum’s orders holding the postal department liable were upheld.