Mysuru: A City Consumer Court has ordered the Indian Railways to pay Rs. 37,000 as compensation to a family who faced a 33-hour ordeal of travelling standing inside a train for 1,950 kilometres as their reserved berths were illegally occupied by other travellers. Interestingly, the complainant himself argued his case in the Court.
The three family members had valid tickets worth Rs.740 each and the tickets were booked in Mysuru City Railway Station and the total value of the tickets is Rs. 2,220. The journey on May 25, 2017 in the sleeper class of the Jaipur-Mysore Superfast Express (Train No.12976) from Ujjain was a nightmarish one for Vijesh, a resident of Satyamarg Main, behind ICICI Bank Lane, Siddartha Layout and two of his family members.
After boarding from Ujjain, they were shocked to see that their berths (coach No.S5 and berth Nos. 57, 58 and 63) were taken over by others in the compartment which was crowded by unreserved passengers. As the journey began, Vijesh complained to the coach TTE about their seats and requested them to vacate the occupants. But the TTE did not bother to heed to his request so did the RPF personnel in the train, when Vijesh took the matter to them.
Vijesh then tried the grievance redressal options of the Indian Railways including helpline and SMS service but his efforts were futile. He even got down at Bhopal Station in Madhya Pradesh and Kazipet in Telangana and physically lodged complaints to regain the berths reserved for his family. Unfortunately, the Railway officials offered no help.
After reaching Mysore City Railway Station, he contacted the Railway officials with a complaint but the authorities cited territorial jurisdiction as the reason and Vijesh was told to go back to Ujjain where he started the journey to lodge a complaint.
Having no other alternative, Vijesh then approached the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum in Mysuru on June 23, 2017 with a complaint against the South Western Railways Division Railway Manager Mysuru and the Division Commercial Manager. He sought a relief of Rs. 3,32,597. He himself argued the case in the Court.
To substantiate his claims, Vijesh submitted photographs of the overcrowded compartment. In their response, the Mysuru Railway authorities quoted Indian Railways’ territorial jurisdiction and requested the Consumer Court to dismiss the passenger’s plea.
Passing the order, the copy of which is with Star of Mysore, the Consumer Court President H.M. Shivakumara Swamy and Members M.V. Bharathi and M.C. Devakumar slammed the Mysuru Railways authorities.
“The contention of maintainability of the complaint on the ground of lack of jurisdiction is not justified, because there are several train runs from opposite party station, beyond its territorial jurisdiction,” the judges observed.
In a verdict pronounced on Friday (Jan. 19), the Consumer Forum indicted the Railways for deficiency in service and ordered to pay a compensation of Rs. 37,000 (Rs.25,000 towards the deficiency in service, Rs. 10,000 for the mental agony, inconvenience and Rs.2,000 towards litigation expenses) to Vijesh for the inconvenience and hardship caused to the family on train despite holding valid tickets.
The Railways have been ordered to pay the compensation within 60 days, failing which the court imposed a daily penalty of Rs. 200 until compliance. It took 6 months and 28 days for the Court to pass the order.
This post was published on January 21, 2018 6:58 pm