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Postal Dept. fined for delayed delivery of telegram

CUTTACK: Is the recipient of an express telegram or a postal letter a consumer? The State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission recently discussed this question and the Commission ruled that: “Since the recipient is a beneficiary, he is a consumer.

Rejecting the contention of the Postal Department that a postal recipient cannot be regarded as a consumer, chairman of the Commission Justice R K Patra and its member Subash Mahatab fined the department for negligence in duty and deficiency in service.

Taking up an appeal from one Lingaraj Jena of Ranpur in Nayagarh district, the Commission directed the postal department to pay the appellant Rs 5000 by December 31, 2007, failing which an interest at the rate of 9 per cent per annum would be levied on the fine.

The case in brief states that Lingaraj’s nephew Babuli had booked an express telegram on February 3, 2001 at Bhubaneswar informing his uncle in Nayagarh district that his father was serious. Babuli in the telegram had wanted that his uncle must come to Bhubaneswar to see his ailing father.

But by the time the telegram reached Lingaraj on February 7, 2007, Babuli’s father Aparti had died on February 6, 2007. Blaming the postal department for deficiency in service, Lingaraj had moved the consumer court alleging that because of the negligent of the postal department, he could not meet his Aparti lying on deathbed.

The consumer court also rejected the plea taken by the Postal Department that the delay was caused because the post office at Nayagarh was closed on February 4, 2002 as it was a Sunday and the telephone line between Nayagarh and Ranpur was out of order during that period.

The court said since an express telegram was booked, it was expected that the message should have reached the recipient the same day. “The reasons ascribed for four-day delay by the Postal Department for an express telegram to reach Nayagarh from Bhubaneswar is unacceptable and we have no hesitation to hold the respondents (postal department) are guilty of deficiency in service,” the court said.

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