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Krishnan was visibly upset over the inordinate delay in encashment of a demand draft issued by a bank. It is close to a week since I presented the instrument, but the said amount is still not reflected in my account statement,” Krishnan told this correspondent, clearly ignorant of the cause for such delay.
Enquiries revealed that issue of non-CTS complaint demand drafts by banks posed a lot of hardship, delay in encashment of the instrument.
And this, a cross-section of bankers admit, is continuing to happen even after two years of RBI's instructions to banks to phase out such instruments.
Demanding RBI's immediate intervention in this regard, the Secretary of Coimbatore Consumer Cause K Kathirmathiyon pointed out that the Banking Regulator had issued instructions to banks in 2012 to issue only CTS-2010 complaint cheque books, demand drafts and pay orders and not charge the customer for issuing CTS complaint cheque books for the first time.
Further, to discourage presentation of non-CTS instruments, the RBI had, towards the end of last year, imposed restrictions on clearing of such instruments.
Such instruments were cleared thrice a week during the first four months of this calender year (January 1 2014 to April 30, 2014); this was reduced to two times a week (Monday and Friday) between May and October, and from November 1 onwards, down to once a week (Monday only and before 11 am).
If one presents a non-CTS demand draft on say Monday, it would be sent for clearing only the following Monday and proceeds credited to the payee's account on Tuesday or Wednesday, taking nearly 10 days in the process for encashing the draft for no fault of the customer.
“Some of the bank's branches want to exhaust non-CTS demand drafts,” the Consumer Cause Secretary said adding “it is tantamount to deficiency in service. Since these are issued against the Regulator's instructions, the customer can demand compensation and claim damages from the bank that issued the non-CTS draft/ pay order. It is a serious issue. The RBI should take action against such erring banks in the interest of the public,” Mr Kathirmathiyon said.
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