ICICI Bank fined Rs 10 lakh for denying credit card to lawyer

ICICI Bank fined Rs 10 lakh for denying credit card to lawyer

The Delhi Consumer Commission today imposed a Rs 10-lakh fine on ICICI Bank for refusing credit card to a lawyer for a "negative profile" profession. However, the bank refuted the charge that it was not giving credit cards to advocates and said it would appeal against order before an appropriate forum. The Commission asked the bank to deposit Rs 10 lakh in the State Consumer Welfare Fund, and pay Rs 50,000 as compensation to the complainant. In a strongly-worded order, the Commission, presided over by Justice J D Kapoor, also restrained all other financial institutions from rejecting consumers' applications on the premise that their occupations fell under "negative profiles". Deploring ICICI for not following the guidelines laid down by the Reserve Bank regarding financial credits, the Commission noted that the lender could not be allowed to "defame and demean" any profession in general and the legal fraternity in particular.
Following the order, an ICICI Bank spokesperson said in a statement that it has refuted it was not giving credit cards to advocates and submitted a list of advocates holding ICICI Bank Credit Cards.
"The bank would prefer an appeal before an appropriate forum. The bank had filed a reply taking a preliminary objection stating that the complainant is not a consumer of the bank, as provided for in the Consumer Protection Act," the spokesperson said.
"There is no service provided, therefore, the question of deficiency of service does not arise and the complainant does not fall within the purview of Consumer Protection Act," the bank added.

Source :ECONOMIC TIMES