It was recently reported in the media that Mysore District Consumer Forum sentenced A.L. Nanjundaraje Urs, managing partner of Chanakya Finance Corporation (CFC) to three years in prison for not returning the deposits of customers. Now, in a more sweeping judgement given on 17-1-15, the Forum has sentenced all the nine partners of CFC to three years in jail and also fined them 10,000 rupees for the same offence.
CFC had accepted fixed deposits from hundreds, and possibly thousands of depositors and did not return the deposits to many after maturity. About 650 of the depositors have filed complaints before the Mysore District Consumer Forum charging CFC with deficiency in service. Judgements ordering CFC to return the deposits were given but these orders were consistently violated. The depositors then filed execution petitions and these two judgements of the DCF are in the way of enforcing its earlier orders.
In its latest judgement (a common order in 57 execution petitions filed by different depositors of CFC), the DCF said that the partners of CFC lured customers with glitzy advertisements and looted public money with which they made property and led a luxurious life. They went underground and evaded the public. Therefore it said that partners of CFC did not deserve any concession and imposed the maximum penalty allowed by law which is 3 years rigorous imprisonment and Rs. 10,000 as fine. If the fine is not paid, it ordered an additional year's RI. It also ordered that the properties of the partners of CFC be auctioned to repay the deposit. It is learnt that all nine partners, A.L. Nanjundaraje Urs, Rajivalochana, M.K.Biddappa, Leelavathi Shivanna, S. Nagarathna, H.N. Dakshayani, Jayaprakash, Lalitha Venkataramu and A.M. Monnappa have already started serving their prison sentences.
In a common order given still more recently on 31-1-15 on another bunch of execution petitions, the DCF has again sentenced the partners of CFC to three years in jail and also fined them Rs. 10,000. It is well-known that consumer courts provide compensation for defective goods and deficient service. If the seller of the goods/services does not obey the orders of the court, consumer courts have the power to punish him with a prison sentence of upto three years and a fine of upto Rs. 10,000. Unfortunately, consumer courts are reluctant to enforce these punishments and so violation of the orders of the consumer courts is quite common. As a result, innumerable consumers receive favourable judgments from consumer courts, but do not get any real relief, nor are the offenders really punished. In this background, it is heartening that the Mysore DCF has imposed the maximum penalty on the defaulters and sent them to prison.
It is noteworthy that the partners of CFC has been sentenced repeatedly to three years RI by the DCF in its judgments. It is not clear if these prison terms will run concurrently or one after the other. Even though the DCF has ordered that the properties of the partners in CFC be auctioned to pay the creditors, the district administration which bears this responsibility is not sincerely implementing this order thus prolonging the agony of the depositors many of whom are senior citizens.
G L Nagaraj Urs, MGP