The Union Ministry of Railways has paid a Delhi resident Rs.60,000 on the instructions of the Delhi Consumer Disputes Forum which had directed that she be compensated for theft of her purse during travel.
The payment was made after the Forum issued summons to the Railway Board Chairman this past January threatening penalty under the Consumer Protection Act for failure to comply with its order of November 2012.
It was in February this year that Archana Raj, a resident of Rani Bagh, received the compensation from the Railway Ministry.
Ms. Raj had complained that her purse was stolen while she was travelling in an AC II Tier coach of AP Express from Secunderabad to New Delhi on August 14, 2009. The case took a long time and it was only on November 6, 2012, that the Forum ruled in her favour in an open court. When the Railways initially did not pay up, Ms. Raj again moved the Forum on December 19 last to demand that “because of deliberate disobedience of the order”, proceedings under Sections 25 and 27 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, be initiated to enforce and execute the order with suitable costs, compensation and interest.
Thereafter the Forum issued summons to the Railway Board Chairman on January 15 this year demanding to know why penalty as contemplated under Section 27 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, for not complying with the orders not be imposed on him. The summons had their effect and the complainant got her compensation through a cheque drawn on February 6.
