The Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission passed the direction on a complaint from a credit card customer of the bank that he was wrongfully billed for a cash withdrawal of Rs 16,000, although he had never used the card in an ATM.
The customer Sukhbir Singh was shown as a defaulter by the bank, but he successfully proved that he never used his card.
Following this, the commission directed the bank to hire an expert to 'go over all aspects involved and ensure that the systems are properly immunised so that transactions on a banking system such as ATM cannot be done by unauthorised persons... (to ensure) credibility
of the system..."
It also said that it would initiate an inquiry of unfair trade practices against the banking giant and directed Citibank to file a compliance report within eight weeks.
MRTPC bench headed by Chairman Justice O P Dwivedi also held that the bank cannot hold the customer responsible for safeguard of ATM Personal Identification Number even before it reaches him or her.
As per the agreement between a bank and its customers, the latter is held responsible for security of ATM PIN from the time it is dispatched, and the customer is liable to repay any cash that is withdrawn after that moment.
"The bank cannot take shelter behind the words of the agreement the parties that the sole responsibility of the security of the PIN number lay with the applicant (customer) even during the dispatch of the cover containing the personal identification number (PIN)."
