The Banking Ombudsman, Chandigarh, which covers Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, the Union territory of Chandigarh and three districts of Haryana received 3,521 complaints in the year 2011-12.
According to J Tashi, the Banking Obudsman of Chandigarh, 663 levy charges on loans related complaints, 574 complaints related to suspected use of cloned ATM cards, 499 complanits related to pension funds and 17 complaints pertaining to debit cards were received. The complaints made on-line increased by 12.6 per cent while other modes decreased.
He told that complaints from the customers of State Bank of India and public -sector banks were the maximum as they have the largest network.
Tashi added that from July 2011 to June 2012, about 21 cases of suspected cloned ATM cards were solved by the Ombudsman and an amount of Rs 9 lakh was paid back to the account holders from various banks in the region.
He added that the ombudsman had enough powers to safeguard the interests of the customers but there was a lack of awareness.
Efforts were being made by the ombudsman to disseminate information in semi-urban and rural areas to file complaints for grievances as the customers in such areas were not pro-active in sending complaints to the Banking Ombudsman, said Tashi.
The urban population has been advised through the media to refrain from using ATMs located in desserted areas as ATM related complaints are being received frequently from such secluded areas.
He further stressed on the fact that with the expansion of banking activities, the role of Banking Ombusman is going to be significant in future.
The banks have, according to Tashi, paid penalties to the customers as instructed by the the Banking Ombudsman in the Chandigarh region.
