ICICI bank pulled up for making pesky calls

New Delhi, Oct 22 (IANS) Delhi High Court Wednesday refused to stay contempt proceedings against the ICICI bank for making unsolicited calls to mobile phone users.

The bank had approached the court for staying a contempt petition filed by advocate Nivedita Sharma in the state consumer commission.

A bench comprising Justice Vikramjit Sen and S.L. Bhayana, while hearing the case cited their own experiences of receiving such calls from the bank and said: "At all times of the day we get calls from ICICI bank. You think you are above the law."

Sharma in the petition has stated that she had been receiving calls from the bank despite a direction from the state consumer commission to stop harassing consumers.

On her complaint, the commission in December 2006 imposed a penalty of Rs.5 million on Airtel and other cellular operators for their failure to control calls made by the telemarketers and banks.

The commission also imposed Rs.2.5 million penalty on ICICI Bank and American Express Bank for making repeated calls to the mobile users, she said.

She claimed that the commission had ordered that in case these calls do not stop the consumers could approach the commission against the bank and telemarketers.