ICICI Bank fined Rs 2.5 million for lost property documents

05 Sep 2023 CW Team

According to the complaint, ICICI Bank had approved a housing loan of Rs 18.6 million in Bangalore in April 2016. After the sale deed was executed, the bank retained several original property documents, including the registered sale deed and possession certificate. As the bank did not provide scanned or true copies, Madhusudhanan filed a complaint in June 2016. The bank later informed him that the documents were lost in transit from Bangalore to its central storage facility in Hyderabad, transported by a courier company.

Since the bank failed to resolve the issue, Madhusudhanan approached the Banking Ombudsman. In September 2016, the Banking Ombudsman directed the bank to issue a duplicate copy of the lost documents, publish a public notice about the loss, and pay the complainant Rs 25,000 for deficiency in service.

Madhusudhanan then escalated the matter to the National Consumer Commission, alleging extreme negligence on the bank's part and emphasising that copies of documents could not replace the original documents. He sought Rs 50 million in compensation for mental distress and losses incurred.

The NCDRC, based on the evidence presented, found the complaint for compensation due to deficiency in service to be legitimate. It also noted that the issue at hand involved compensating the complainant for potential future losses, and the bank could not shift responsibility to the courier company.

The commission ruled in favour of the complainant, directing ICICI Bank to obtain, at its own expense, all reconstructed and duly certified copies of the documents provided by the complainant as collateral at the time of the housing loan's registration. Furthermore, ICICI Bank was instructed to pay Rs 25 lakh as compensation for deficiency in services and an additional Rs 50,000 to cover litigation costs.

The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) has ruled that ICICI Bank must pay Rs 25 lakh in compensation for misplacing the original property title documents submitted by a complainant as collateral for a housing loan. The complaint, filed by Manoj Madhusudhanan through advocate Swetank Shantanu, sought compensation for deficiency in services.According to the complaint, ICICI Bank had approved a housing loan of Rs 18.6 million in Bangalore in April 2016. After the sale deed was executed, the bank retained several original property documents, including the registered sale deed and possession certificate. As the bank did not provide scanned or true copies, Madhusudhanan filed a complaint in June 2016. The bank later informed him that the documents were lost in transit from Bangalore to its central storage facility in Hyderabad, transported by a courier company.Since the bank failed to resolve the issue, Madhusudhanan approached the Banking Ombudsman. In September 2016, the Banking Ombudsman directed the bank to issue a duplicate copy of the lost documents, publish a public notice about the loss, and pay the complainant Rs 25,000 for deficiency in service.Madhusudhanan then escalated the matter to the National Consumer Commission, alleging extreme negligence on the bank's part and emphasising that copies of documents could not replace the original documents. He sought Rs 50 million in compensation for mental distress and losses incurred.The NCDRC, based on the evidence presented, found the complaint for compensation due to deficiency in service to be legitimate. It also noted that the issue at hand involved compensating the complainant for potential future losses, and the bank could not shift responsibility to the courier company.The commission ruled in favour of the complainant, directing ICICI Bank to obtain, at its own expense, all reconstructed and duly certified copies of the documents provided by the complainant as collateral at the time of the housing loan's registration. Furthermore, ICICI Bank was instructed to pay Rs 25 lakh as compensation for deficiency in services and an additional Rs 50,000 to cover litigation costs.

Real Estate

05 Dec 2025

RBI Rate Cut Boosts Confidence Across Housing Market

Industry Context and Market DynamicsThe real estate industry has welcomed the RBI’s rate cut as a timely boost to affordability and demand. With home prices having risen steadily across major markets, even a marginal reduction in interest rates meaningfully strengthens purchasing power, especially for first-time and mid-income buyers.Ashish Jerath, President – Sales & Marketing, Smartworld Developers, observes:“The RBI’s 25-basis-point cut, bringing the repo rate down to 5.25%, is a timely boost for the real estate sector. Lower interest rates reduce borrowing costs, enabling homeb..

Infrastructure Transport

05 Dec 2025

BMC Resumes Rs 170 Billion Road Works, Targets 80 per cent By Jan 2026

Following the withdrawal of the southwest monsoon in October, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has restarted work on 645 roads—covering 297.49 kilometres—under its large-scale concretisation programme. Data shows that more than 60 per cent of the resumed works are located in the western suburbs. Officials said the civic body aims to complete concretisation on 80 per cent of the roads where fresh work has begun by January 2026. Launched in 2022, the Rs 170 billion project seeks to concretise 700 kilometres of roads across Mumbai. All civil works were halted during the monsoon ..

Infrastructure Urban

05 Dec 2025

India Pushes Digital Shift In Urban Land Mapping

The Department of Land Resources (DoLR) under the Ministry of Rural Development has convened a National Symposium on NAKSHA – the National Geospatial Knowledge-based Land Survey of Urban Habitations – to advance India’s transition to modern, technology-driven land mapping. Speaking at the inaugural session, Secretary Manoj Joshi underscored the urgent need to move revenue departments away from outdated, tape-based methods and rough hand-drawn sketches. He stressed that adopting latitude–longitude-based digital mapping and GIS-linked registration systems is essential for economic stabi..