District Consumer Forum, Bokaro.
Consumer Case No. 85 of 2008



Saket Kumar s/o Shari Surendra Paswan

R/o DRDA Collectorate, Camp-II, P.S.- B.S.City. Dist.- Bokaro.

Vs.

1. Station Master, B.S.City Railway Station, P.S.-Balidih, Dist.- Bokaro.

2. The Chief Commercial Manager /Refund SE/SEC/ECO Railway, 14 strand Road, 9th floor. Kolkata-1.



Before-

S.M.Alam, President

Vijay Bahadur Singh, Member
Shabnam Praveen, Member



Date of Judgment-: 27 March, 2009

Date of case filing 14.Nov. 2008.

-: Judgment:-

Complainant has filed this Consumer case

against the opposite parties for refund of Rs. 1370/- with 18% interest from 24.06.2008 till payment (ticket fare), Rs. 10000/- each as compensation and cost of litigation from the opposite parties.

2 Brief fact of the case is that the complainant has booked a reservation ticket on 01.06.2008 in Rajdhani Express (Train no. 2439) from B.S.City to New Delhi vide reservation ticket no. 05417054 for which he had paid a sum of Rs. 1370/- but when he reached the station, his the station his ticket was not confirmed hence he could not traveled. The complainant gone to reservation counter to return their ticket but the reservation staff was not ready to return his money then the complainant has filed an application to refund the fare vide ticket/PNT No. 6115811424 at 10:45 A.M. The complainant received TDR ticket deposit receipt but the opposite party no.2 has not taken any step regarding the refunds of fare. The complainant, therefore, sent a letter through speed post on 09.08.2008 along with TDR to opposite party no.2 for early refund of fare of the complainant but no any action was taken by the opposite party no.2. The complainants also sent a reminder on 08.09.2008 and only thereafter, he refunds a letter on 16.09.2008 vide Ref. No. RT/AG/CSE/110708/09/55 dated 19.08.2008 from the opposite party no.2 in which opposite party no.2 repudiated the valid claim of the complainant. The ground for repudiation was that the ticket was not surrendered within 12 hours hence the opposite parties are not liable to pay any claim.

3 That in the TDR the guide line of the passenger column No.1 is clear cut indicate that “passenger are require to sent an application for refund to the CCM (refund) @ address printed in the top of the TDR and the receipt of the original must be returned. The application must reach the concerned refund office at the earliest to not later than 90 days”. The complainant had deposited the TDR to Station Master Bokaro within 24 hours from the date of journey. In the TDR guide line of the passenger, column Railway did not disclosed that ticket surrendered by the passengers within 12 hours. The opposite parties have intentionally repudiated the claim of the complainant to grave their money. The complainant is a student and resides in Delhi for preparation of competent examination. The opposite parties are deficient and negligent on account of which, the complainant has suffered irreparable loss and damage, and as such the opposite parties are liable to pay the aforesaid amounts as claimed.

4 Upon issuance of notices, both opposite parties appeared and filed their common written statement stating therein that the arrival of train no. 2439 at Bokaro Steel City Railway Station is 19:35 hours and reservation chart prepared four hours prior to arrival of the train and any passenger may be able to know regarding the status of his reservation ticket much prior to departure of train and it is worthless to say that the complainant went to reservation counter for refund of his unused ticket and reservation staff did not return the amount as because the reservation account continuously open up to 20 hours. The complainant also not approached next working day for cancelation of his ticket. Moreover the complainant filed application for refund of fare after 23 day i e on 24.06.2008 which is clearly apparent from the claim petition. The TDR was issued on 24.06.2008 at 10:48 hours by the opposite party no.1 and on receipt of TDR No. 132439 dated 24.06.2008 the opposite party no.2 repudiated the claim for refund on 19.08.2008 vide his letter no. RT/AG/CSE/110708/09155 for the reason “the ticket was not surrendered within 12 hours. The refund rules mentioned in time table of passenger information page no. 56 upon which time limit for cancelation of ticket of unused wait listed tickets over 500 KM is up to 12 hours. So far other allegations of the complainant are concerned, the opposite parties have categorically denied and stated that the opposite parties are not negligent and deficient in providing service to the complainant and hence they are not liable to return the fair along with compensation as claimed by the complainant and the present consumer complaint case is fit to be dismissed.

5 Heard both the parties and perused the case records and documents filed by them. It is observed that that the complainant purchased ticket no. 05417054, PNR No. 6115811424 for his journey on 01.06.2008 from Bokaro Steel City to New Delhi by Train No. 2439 (Rajdhani Express), the total fare charged being Rs. 1370/- only. The said ticket was a wait list ticket and when the complainant reached the station his ticket was not confirmed and he could not travel by the said train. Later on he filed an application for refund of fair on 24.06.2008. But the complainants refund claim was repudiated by the opposite partyno.2 vide reference no. RT/AG/CSE/110708/09155 dated 19.08.2008/16.09.2008 on the ground that the ticket was not surrendered within 12 hours.

6 On scrutiny of the documents it is found that TDR was obtained on 24.06.2008. As per refund rules of the Railway, a TDR in respect of totally unused ticket can be obtained from the Station Master of the nearest station within 30 days from the date of scheduled travel. As per guide lines of passenger of the Railways, a passenger is required to send an application for refund (in the application form printed on reverse) to the Chief Commercial Manager( Refunds) at the address printed on the top of the TDR. This receipt in original must be returned. The application must reach the concerned office at the earliest but not later than 90 days from the date of journey. In the instant case the date of journey was 01.06.2008 and the date of TDR and application for refund is 24.06.2008. In view of the above we conclude that the opposite parties have been negligent and deficient in service towards the applicant for refusing the refund of fare. We, therefore, hold the opposite parties liable to pay relief to the complainant.

7 Under the fact and circumstances of the case the opposite parties are directed to refund the fare amount of RS. 1370/-(Rupees one thousand three hundred seventy) only to the complainant within 30 days from the date of this order. The opposite parties also directed to pay Rs. 200/-(Rupees two hundred) only as compensation to the complainant within 30 days from the date of this order.



Member (lady) Member President