Chennai post office ordered to pay Rs 15K after refusing to return 50 paise

A Chennai resident won a lawsuit against a local post office after they refused to return 50 paise in change during a transaction. The district consumer disputes redressal commission ordered the post office to pay the resident, Manasha, Rs 15,000 in compensation for overcharging.

The incident took place on December 3 last year when Manasha went to the Polichalur post office to send a registered letter. The postal fee was Rs 29.50.

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When Manasha paid Rs 30, the post office refused to give him back the 50 paise stating their system automatically rounded up the amount to Rs 30. Following this, Manasha filed a complaint arguing this could lead to potential siphoning and a loss of GST revenue for the government.

In response, the post office explained that amounts less than Rs 50 paise were usually ignored. They also said that the software was set to round off transactions to the nearest rupee. On UPI payment, they said that the option had been malfunctioning and hence it was discontinued in May 2024.

After hearing both sides, the commission ruled that the post office admitted to overcharging because of a software error. It called this an unfair trade practice under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 and ordered compensation.

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