Question : Banking Ombudsman

(a) the number of complaints filed in Banking Ombudsman, New Delhi against Public and Private Sector Banks and disposed by it during each of the last three years and the current year, Bank-wise;
(b) whether the said Banking Ombudsman has been bound to dispose of such complaints in definite time frame;
(c) if so, the details thereof along with the number of complaints disposed of by the said Banking Ombudsman within the specified time frame;
(d) whether the said Banking Ombudsman has been empowered to provide compensation to the complainant for wrong doings of the Banks;
(e) if so, the details thereof along with the amount of compensation awarded to the complainants by the said Banking Ombudsman during the said period; and
(f) the other steps taken / being taken by the Government / RBI to ensure disposal of complaints by the said Banking Ombudsman within a time-bound manner?

THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE

(a): Bank-wise details regarding number of complaints filed in the office of Banking Ombudsman, New Delhi against public and private sector banks and their disposal status during the period from July 2014 to February 2018 are given at Annexure.
(b) & (c): The Banking Ombudsman Scheme does not specify the time limit for disposal of the complaints by the Banking Ombudsman. Efforts are made to resolve the complaints generally within a period of two months. However, in some cases resolution gets delayed mainly due to delay in receipt of further information/clarification from the complainants/banks.
(d) & (e): The Banking Ombudsman Scheme 2006 (BOS) provides compensation for any loss suffered by the complainant, arising directly out of the act or omission of the bank. The Banking Ombudsman may also award compensation in addition to the above but not exceeding rupees one lakh to the complainant, taking into account the loss of complainant’s time, expenses incurred by the complainant, harassment and mental agony suffered by the complainant.
(f) The office of the Banking Ombudsman, New Delhi is experiencing heavy inflow of complaints during the last few years. To cope with the increasing volume, a second office of the Banking Ombudsman at New Delhi was opened during the year 2016-17 by transferring the districts of Haryana and some districts of Uttar Pradesh to the second office of Banking Ombudsman. Further, to ease out the pressure on the Banking Ombudsman (BO), New Delhi, the area of Jammu and Kashmir which hitherto was being taken care of by BO, New Delhi has been entrusted to newly created office of Banking Ombudsman at Jammu for the region of Jammu & Kashmir.
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