A consumer commission directed the South Central Railway to refund a passenger’s tatkal ticket fare, and pay ₹ 10,000 as compensation for not informing him immediately of a train’s cancellation.
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission – II, Hyderabad bench, comprising president Vakkanti Narasimha Rao, and members P.V.T.R. Jawahar and R.S. Rajasree was dealing with a complaint filed by P. Ramchander Rao, a senior citizen, and resident of New Bhoiguda.
The complainant stated that on February 9, 2019 he booked a train (train number 12786) for a trip from Bengaluru to Kachiguda scheduled on February 16, 2019 after paying amount after which his ticket status was shown as wait-listed. It was then changed to reservation against cancellation (RAC). On the day of departure, the passenger checked the status which continued to reflect as RAC. He stated that after a while he checked the status of other trains and found out that the train which he was scheduled to board was cancelled. It was at 8.09 a.m. that he received a message that the train was cancelled. With no option left, he had to book a seat on Garib Rath Express.
For their part, the SCR stated that they had informed passengers of the cancellation by means of a news bulletin on February 15, a day in advance. The cancellation was on account of the SCR being engaged in changing signal systems. The complainant contended that intimation should be given much in advance and that he lost money on account of the train cancellation.
Taking the evidence placed on record, and arguments into consideration, the commission noted, “If the opposite party intimated the complainant immediately after the issuance of news bulletin about the cancellation of train, he might have made alternative arrangements on 15.2.2019 itself in order to avoid unnecessary delay and inconvenience. As per the attitude of the opposite party and due to late intimation about the cancellation, he booked another ticket in Garib Rath by paying ₹1,063.40 towards Tatkal ticket(sic)”.
Apart from ordering a refund of Rs. 1,063.40 and directing a payment of compensation of Rs. 10,000, the commission imposed costs of Rs. 5,000.
