[Resolved]  State Bank of India — SBI Kattedan Hyderabad Branch Manager refused to open Current Account.

Address:

Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh

To, 25th July 2011

The Deputy General Manager (Customer Service),
State Bank of India, State Bank Bhawan,
4th floor, Madame Cama Road,
Mumbai-400021

Respected Sir/Madam,

I’ve logged a complaint regarding the branch manager of SBI Kattedan, Hyderabad through post on 28th May 2011. We also replied to letter received from SBI Kattedan Branch to Local Head Office. But even after approximately 2 months I didn’t get any solution. Neither the Local Head Office, nor RBI Hyderabad to whom the issue was forwarded is taking any action in this regard. I’m attaching the detailed complaint letter with this letter for your reference.

I request you to please take serious action in this regard.


Thank you,



Anil Kumar Rungta (HUF)

Address for Communication:
Anil Kumar Rungta
15-2-321, Mukthyargunj
Hyderabad – 500012
Phone [protected].


CC to:

1 Local Head Office, RBI Hyderabad.
2 Local Head Office, SBI Hyderabad.
3 State Bank Of India, SEIE Branch Kattedan, Hyderabad.


Documents Enclosed:

1 Copy of initial letter sent on 28th May 2011.
2 Copy of Reply to SBI letter sent on 2nd july 2011.
3 Letter Received from Branch Manager, Kattedan Dt. 6-611.
4 Copy of HUF PAN Card (With matter written by Branch Manager)
5 Copy of Letter Received from RBI Head Office Dt. 6-6-11.
6 Copy of Letter Received from SBI Head Office Dt. 10-6-11.






To 2nd July 2011.
The Local Head Office,
Bank Street, Koti,
Hyderabad 500 095


This is with reference to opening of current account in SBI, SEIE Branch, Kattedan, Hyderabad. In reply to our complaint, the Manager is not having proper training / knowledge of KYC norms and creating unnecessary issues and hurdles. He is not giving proper response to the exact issue and raising unnecessary points.

To give you more clarification, I’m providing complete explanation to the points raised by the Branch Manager so that he shouldn’t think customer does not know any rules. The points underlined by me are the points mentioned by the Branch Manager and the explanation of the same is given by me below that:

1) The customer is unable to explain, when it was constituted HUF form, how it was constituted, why it was constituted.

a. When it was constituted: As per point number 4 in the letter the Manager himself points out that the HUF was constituted on[protected]. This is marriage date on which the HUF received gifts in marriage therefore the HUF was constituted. Returns of income are being filed regularly.
b. How it is constituted: It is as explained above. But the point of contention is not how it was formed but why the same is being investigated by the Branch Manager. This doesn’t come under his purview and having seen the PAN card he should be satisfied the HUF exists.
c. Why it was constituted: This is none of the business of the Branch Manager. It is totally unethical for any Branch Manager to ask such a question. Moreover I have a question from the Manager that, why it is required to explain the Manager that why HUF was constituted.

2) The customer is unable to explain, whether the proposed activity comes under ancestral business and member of the HUF.

b. In point number 4 again the Branch Manager points out that the VAT registration is on[protected], therefore it is understood that the proposed business is not ancestral but a new registration of new business. This much basic knowledge a Branch Manager is expected to have as per general public perception.

c. Members of HUF: A certificate issued by a Chartered accountant has been enclosed to the account opening forms and the same is also enclosed herewith. The certificate clearly mentions the details of members of family and Karta.

3) The customer is unable to explain and produce any evidence of the proposed activity registered under VAT in HUF as the customer signed the paper as proprietor of the proposed unit.

We produced VAT registration and the same is showing the purpose / activity of the firm of which the Anil Kumar Rungta HUF is proprietor. By implying that customer has signed as proprietor the Branch Manager has shown his ignorance in these matters. We’ve asked the branch manager to confirm with the Sales Tax Department about the proprietor of Rungtaji Paper Products is Anil Kumar Rungta HUF or not. We could not provide any legal document of registration under VAT because the Registration Certificate of VAT mentions the name of the firm and not the name of the Proprietor.


4) As per the HUF PAN No. AAHHA4548J the date of HUF came into existence since 24.02.1995 and the proposed account to be opened obtained a VAT registration on 12.05.2011. The applicant is unable to explain the reasons why there is an abnormal delay in opening and dong the ancestral business. He is refused to divulge the information.

The Branch Manager does not understand the basic tenets of business. If the HUF is constituted on[protected] and business is being started by Karta of HUF in 2011 by getting itself registered under VAT on[protected] there is no law being broken and there is every right of any person to start any lawful business at any time convenient to himself. There is no stipulation that the HUF ought to have registered in VAT on the day of its constitution, as is wrongly being implied by the Branch Manager.

5) The allegations made by the applicant is falls and not admissible as the entire episode happened in the presence of few customers and staff members.

Even if the episode has happened without any witnesses the Branch Manager is accepting that the episode has happened and he has insulted us in the Branch. How many witness the Branch Manager wants? He himself admits that it happened before few customer and employees. The Branch Manager by asking for witnesses has derogated the office of a Branch Manager and is not worthy of the said post. Nobody can believe such a person, whether he is in a Manager’s post or some other menial job. The entire episode can be viewed in the CCTV footage if the CCTV is there in the Branch Manager’s Cabin. Why does he need to ask his staff member to call the security guard and to shut the bank’s main door and insult the customer?

6) On the same day, we advised him to bring with all the original documents with supporting information to enable us to open the account at our Branch.

THIS IS TOTALLY A FALSE POINT BY THE BRANCH MANAGER. All information documents were provided in original for verification. We tried opening the account couple of days before the incidence, however we were returned back because we were carrying only the photo copies of documents not original. We came back to the Branch on the day the incident with complete original documents for verification and the Branch Manager has refused to open account and tore the form for opening the account and we were forced to complain. How the Branch Manager can say above point when he has refused to open the account stating that the PAN Card issued is not in favor of HUF. Where can we get the PAN Card of HUF as per his requirement? And if he has just queried from any of his colleague, or checked online, he would have come to know about the HUF.

In the complaint letter given by us, we’ve provided the information about how to read the PAN Card and this information was made available online by Income Tax Department. We wanted the Branch Manager to check the same online on the incident day.

Not just because account was not opened but because there is lot of anguish and harassment caused by this person and in spite of requests, which a normal person does before any Branch Manager, use of high handed behavior has totally let down the Bank in the eyes of common people.

The tradition of HUF in India is deep rooted and well recognized. Whatever reservations banks may have in advancing loans to HUF entities, not opening a current account is akin to disregarding the heritage of HUF structure in India, being recognized all over the world as an Indian concept. Banks should in fact preserve this entity and provide additional information to their employees and provide adequate service to the HUF clients.

In my opinion, the Manager is not fit to stay in his place and may be demoted till his rough behavior is corrected.

Also, I just wanted to check with you that why I received the letter from Branch Manager dated 6th June 2011 after 25 days. As per postal detail, the letter was posted on 30th June 2011 and not on 6th June 2011. If Branch Manager takes this much time posting to customer, we can understand how lazy he is and how does he take this kind of serious matter as light. This is just to bring to your notice.

This issue needs to be sorted out at the earliest.


Thanking You,

Yours truly,



Anil Kumar Rungta (HUF)

CC to 1: Branch Manager, SEIE Branch, Kattedan, Hyderabad
2: RBI, Hyderabad.

Documents enclosed:
1 Letter Received from Branch Manager, Kattedan Dt. 6-611.
2 Copy of VAT Registration Certificate.
3 Copy of Individual PAN Card.
4 Copy of HUF PAN Card (With matter written by Branch Manager)
5 Attested copy of HUF Members.
6 Attested copy of “What is PAN?”














To Dt: 28th May 2011
Reserve Bank of India,
Complaints Redressal Cell
1st floor, Main Building,
Shahid Bhagat Singh Marg,
Mumbai 400 001.
Phone 022 – 22601000

Sir,

Sub: SBI Kattedan Hyderabad Branch Manager refused to open Current Account.

I Anil Kumar Rungta (HUF) going to start a Manufacturing / Trading Unit of eco-friendly Paper Cups by the Name Rungtaji Paper Products at 6-4-171/1, Beside SBI, Saibaba Nagar Kattedan, Hyderabad 500077. I wanted to open the Current Account on the same name in State Bank of India, Kattedan Branch, Hyderabad. However when I approached to the bank with duly filled form and with all the required documents like, VAT License, Voter’s ID Card for Residential Address & Photo ID Proof, HUF PAN Card Detail duly signed, the branch manager refused to open the account stating that the PAN Card details provided by me seems to be false. We’ve informed the Manager that the PAN Card Number AAHHA4548J is issued by Income Tax Department and it is correct. But the branch manager kept on saying that it is false / incorrect PAN Card. We’ve even produced the Personal Pan Card Numbering ACGPR2377F but he still didn’t agree and said either of the cards is false. Actually he was not aware of what is the PAN Card for HUF. When we asked him if he knows about HUF, he said “YES, It is Hindu Undivided Family” and nothing else. We’ve requested him to check the information Online or talk to our Auditor, but he refused all these. After 15-20 minutes of all these discussion, we’ve asked him to give it in writing about why he cannot open the account, and he wrote on my copy of HUF PAN Card

When we asked him to give us back our application form (Filled with complete information), he refused to give the form saying that it is the property of bank. We said him how it can be bank’s property if he is not going to open the account and having all our details, he tore the application form. After all these argument, when we started to come out of his office saying that we’ll complain about this to RBI with all the information he has given to us in writing, he asked one of his employee to call the Security and to shut the banks main door. Then we asked him why he needs to call the security because we wanted to open the account not to do any kind of robbery in bank. Then he took back the PAN Card Xerox copy and changed the matter written on which he has written earlier. At that particular time also we requested him to check the information online or talk to our auditor for clarification because he can explain better how to read PAN Card details, but he said whatever he had to say he has written on the paper.


After all these we were very confused about what exactly the problem is and we approached our Auditor “Sharang Shah” explaining him about complete issue. Our Auditor, who is also an auditor of SBI, said all the branches of SBI got circular about how to read the PAN Card. He had discussion with higher authorities of SBI and Branch Manager of SBI, Kattedan. He explained complete information and provided us the copy of the circular so that we can fax the same to the Branch Manager. We’ve faxed the same on 25th May 2011 however we didn’t receive any response from the Branch Manager yet.

We wanted to bring this to your notice so that the higher authorities of any bank should be aware of rules and regulations and not to INSULT / HARASS the customer. It is not compulsory that every customer who approaches the bank for any work should be educated or know all the rules and regulations. We knew some rules and way to proceed about any complaint and did the same, however not every customer can do the same.

So I request you to please take proper action against the Branch Manger of SBI Kattedan, Hyderabad, so that this kind of issue never arises in future. Also allow me to open the account with the required information because it is the nearest branch of Scheduled Bank to my premises.

Thank You,

For Rungtaji Paper Products



(Anil Kumar Rungta – Karta – HUF)


Address for Communication:

Anil Kumar Rungta
15-2-321, Mukthyargunj
Hyderabad – 500012
Phone [protected].

CC:
1. RBI, 6-1-56, Secretariat Road, Saifabad, Hyderabad - 4.
2. SBI, State Bank Bhawan, 4th floor, Madame Cama Road, Mumbai – 21
3. State Bank of India, Bank Street, Koti, Hyderabad – 95
4. SBI Kattedan Branch, Hyderabad (Personally).


Enclosed:

Copies of VAT Registration, PAN Card HUF, PAN Card Individual, Voter ID Card, Circular,