According to the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) website, it was set up with the objective to be a customer-friendly company through constant innovation, technology and human resource development, to evolve high standards of business ethics, and so on.
Though the convenience of booking railway tickets using the IRCTC online reservation system cannot be denied, most users would have been frustrated one way or the other on account of the various problems faced. It could be those related to retrieving information, hang-ups in the middle of a transaction, failure to load, a failed transaction with money debited from your account, etc with regard to booking tickets, and when it comes to cancellation, it could be the gaps in the refund policy, failure on the part of the railway executives to understand the issue and offer refund, or delays in the amount getting reflected in one’s account.
For instance, one passenger was booked to travel by a train, but it was cancelled due to cyclone. When he claimed for refund, he received a response stating that as per the chart he had travelled and therefore refund was not admissible. He had a tough time making the authorities understand that the train did not run on that particular day, to get his money back.
In another case, the complainant, who had a confirmed e-ticket to travel to Delhi, missed the train by a few minutes. He realised he had to cancel his ticket. He was using a phone with no Internet connectivity.
And being new to the place, over two hours had lapsed before he could identify an Internet café and file his TDR. As per a clause of refund rules for cancellation of e-tickets laid down by Railways, “No refund shall be granted on confirmed E-Ticket if online TDR is filed 2 hours after actual departure of the train”. A counter in railway stations to cancel such e-tickets would help distressed consumers.
Another clause of the refund rules states that in case of a party e-ticket issued for travel of more than one person, where, a few have confirmed reservations and others are on RAC and waiting lists, then, in the case of passengers on RAC or waiting list not travelling, a certificate has to be obtained from the ticket checking staff to that effect and refund of fare to be processed online through TDR, indicating the details of the certificate issued by the ticket checking staff.
Recently, in the case of Vijay Kumar Das Vs. IRCTC, Railway Board and the CCM, Tiruchirapalli, decided by the National Commission (Revision Petition No.1855 of 2012), where the above mentioned clause was highlighted by the counsel for respondent, the complaint was dismissed as the complainant was not a “consumer” as defined under the Consumer Protection Act. The Commission came down heavily on IRCTC and said that it seemed very strange that the rules of refund of e-ticket appeared to be unilaterally framed for the benefit of IRCTC. It questioned the need for a person cancelling his ticket to go in search of the ticket checking staff and get a certificate. The e-ticket refund procedure was not helpful to consumers and instead of approaching the TTE and getting the certificate, most consumers would prefer to forgo the money, the Commission said.
The Commission further observed that the IRCTC website is inaccessible for hours together making it difficult for consumers and therefore it needed drastic improvement. The Commission directed that IRCTC take steps to improve their website to be user-friendly, fast and perfect in all aspects.
(The writer works with CAG, which offers free advice on consumer complaints to its members. For membership details / queries contact 2491 4358 / 2446 0387 or helpdesk@cag.org.in)
