More NRIs turn to consumer courts

Consumer forums in the UT are receiving an increasing number of cases pertaining to NRIs.

The cases being filed at the forums range from embezzlement of shares, fraud by real estate companies and deficiency in services by banks to those against interior decorators, airlines, travel agents and capital firms where their investments are at stake.

Their problems with unscrupulous recruitment agents and the roadblocks they face in setting up businesses, too, find way to the forums. And most of the NRIs don’t hire a lawyer. They prefer to fight their cases on their own.

Most of these complainants are in the age group of 40 to 60 and according

to consumer experts, they are usually from Australia, Canada, France,

New Zealand, Portugal and the United Kingdom.

The experts say false documents and unreliable title deeds, even after validation by advocates, have seen many NRIs taking the builders to court.

“Though there is no such data available, we are witnessing more cases pertaining to NRIs. It is seen that most of the NRIs don’t have any local knowledge and thus easily fall prey to dubious property frauds or lose their stakes in investment,” says K C Gupta, president of the UT State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission.

With UT consumer forums having a quick disposal rate, many NRIs are ready to spend time in the country fighting for their rights.

Cases in the UT forums
* Working in Sweden for the last 35 years, Damini Chadha, a resident of Sector 10, has filed a complaint against a popular interior decorator company, alleging that they took Rs 50,000 from her to install water-proof doors for her 5-kanal house but used poor-quality wood. The NRI has been the chief executive officer of a telecom company for 10 years in Stockholm.
* A case was decided on November 28, in which a US citizen, Karamjit Singh Rudra, was granted a compensation of Rs 1 lakh from a popular tour operator. The complainant, who lives in Mohali, undertook a tour to Switzerland with his daughter for 13 nights and 14 days in 2007 and paid Rs 2.04 lakh to the tour operators, SOTC. Being US citizens, they didn’t require a visa for European countries, but the SOTC charged Rs 8,000 for the purpose. He also accused the SOTC of other harassments during the tour. Even as the SOTC denied any deficiency, the forum held that the visa amount was not required to be charged.
* In a case decided earlier this year, the UT Consumer Forum directed Omaxe Limited, HSBC Bank and ICICI Bank to shell out Rs 3.5 lakh to an NRI for not paying the equated monthly instalments (EMI) to the builder of his house in time.