The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Visakhapatnam News : Railways directed to pay damages

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jul 24, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Visakhapatnam

Railways directed to pay damages

By B. Prabhakara Sarma

VISAKHAPATNAM: The Visakhapatnam District Consumer Forum has directed the Railways to pay compensation and costs for deficiency in service.

A resident of A.V.N. College Road, V. Yerraji Rao, reserved tickets in advance and was going to Tirupati by the Tirumala Express along with his family of four members.

At Annavaram, the TTE found that the name of his daughter, V. Suseela, 18, had been wrongly typed as V. Suresh (Male-21 years).

The TTE created a scene and collected Rs.450 as penalty under threat and coercion though the consumer tried to explain that it was no fault of his and that he was carrying only the minimum amount required for the pilgrimage.

Owing to the humiliation in front of co-passengers, the consumer and his family suffered inconvenience and mental agony. The consumer sent a telegram to the railway authorities on reaching Tirupati and the latter sent a letter after 45 days requesting him to send the original ticket and money receipt along with application to the Deputy Chief Commercial Manager, East Coast Railway, Bhubaneswar. When there was no further response, the consumer filed a complaint (Consumer Dispute No: 49/2004) in the Forum against the Divisional Railway Manager of Waltair Divsiion, ECoR, seeking compensation and costs for deficiency in service.

Ticket checking must

The opposite party in its counter admitted the mistake, which it said was unintentional and had occurred due to the Dasara festival rush. Also, the travelling public was advised to check the ticket at the booking counter itself and the consumer who had reserved 14 days prior to the travel could have verified his ticket. The TTE had discharged his duty properly and collected ticket charges and penalty as he found that a woman was travelling with a ticket of male, of different age, it argued.

During the course of the arguments, counsel for the opposite party also reported that the collected Rs.450 was refunded.

The new president of the forum, C. Rambabu, and its member, D. Suseela, in their verdict last week, observed that the rules permitted a different person to travel on other's ticket in certain contingencies and by allowing a person to travel on a mistaken identity ticket did not cause any monetary loss to the Railways. Simply following the rules, the department had penalised the consumer for the mistake committed by its officials, it stated.

`Gross negligence'

"However, we expect the officials to discharge their duties properly. We can understand if the mistake is as to the sex of the passenger. The name of the passenger is completely changed, including sex and age. It shows gross negligence on the part of the officials. Of course, the opposite party says that the official concerned had been punished for the mistake. The mistake of the official resulted in the humiliation of the consumer in the eyes of the public," the Forum said.

The Forum allowed the complaint and directed the opposite party to pay Rs.5,000 towards damages for mental agony and tension caused to the consumer. It further awarded Rs.1,000 as cost of the litigation.

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