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Banking Ombudsman for north-eastern states, Ashish Ranjan Samal, delivering a keynote address during an awareness programme held at Acacia Hotel in Dimapur on Friday, Feb. 1.[/caption]
Eastern Mirror Desk
Dimapur, Feb. 1: Office of the Banking Ombudsman, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Guwahati conducted an awareness programme on “Banking Ombudsman Scheme, 2006” at Acacia Hotel in Dimapur on Friday.
Ashish Ranjan Samal, Banking Ombudsman for Northeast -- Nagaland, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, and Tripura -- delivered the keynote address during the event organised to impart knowledge on banking procedures, schemes, customers’ rights, and the role of Ombudsman in banking sector to the public.
Addressing a gathering of banking officials from different banks and customers, Samal said that the office of ombudsman, which is based in Guwahati, acts as a banking redressal cell by providing avenues for hearing the complaints and grievances of customers against the banking services.
“If there is any deficiency in banking sector; or if the bank didn’t respond to your complaint within one month; or any matter whatsoever with the bank, you can approach the ombudsman,” said Samal, adding that no money was required to file a complaint.
He said that any bank customer can file a complaint with the banking ombudsman by writing on a piece of paper or through online. Complaints can be filed if the bank fails to respond to the customer’s grievances within one month; the bank rejects complaint; or not satisfied with the respond from the bank.
Under the banking ombudsman scheme, the compensation amount for any loss suffered by the complainant, or in matters the complaint was genuine, a complainant will get INR 20 lakh as compensation.
However, Samal said that the ombudsman office does not entertain any advocate. “On instances you are not happy with the ombudsman, you can approach a lawyer, but you cannot approach ombudsman after you have met the lawyer,” he informed.
The RBI has also launched an ombudsman scheme for digital payments to tackle frauds associated with digital transactions on Jan. 31. The ombudsman said that the digital payments scheme was launched to boost customers’ confidence to carry out online financial transactions. It was also to facilitate the satisfaction or settlement of complaints regarding digital transactions undertaken by customers. The scheme will provide a cost-free and expeditious complaint redressal mechanism related to deficiency in customer services in digital transactions.
Some of the reasons under which customers can raise complaints with the banking ombudsman include refusal to accept torn note or coins; failure or delay to issue drafts, pay orders or bankers’ cheques; non-adherence to prescribed working hours; refusal to open deposit accounts without any valid reason; refusal or delay in closing the accounts; and levying of charges without adequate prior notice to the customer.
It may be motioned that the Banking Ombudsman is a senior official appointed by the RBI to redress customer complaints against any deficiency in banking services. Presently, there are twenty banking ombudsmen in the country with their offices located mostly in state capitals.