Haryana

Karnal

CC/367/2018

Preeti Kalra - Complainant(s)

Versus

Air India Limited - Opp.Party(s)

06 Dec 2019

ORDER

BEFORE THE DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM KARNAL.

 

                                                          Complaint No. 367 of 2018

                                                          Date of instt.21.12.2018

                                                          Date of Decision 06.12.2019

 

Preeti Kalra (Age 37 years) wife of Mr. Nitin Kalra resident of House no.1232, Sector-7, Urban Estate, Karnal, Aadhaar no.963589508793, mobile no.7027081510.

                                                 …….Complainant.

                                              Versus

 

1. Air India Limited, 113, Air Lines House, Gurudwara Rakabganj Road, Parliament Street Behind All India Radio), Delhi-110001.

2. Make My Trip Private Limited, DLF Building no.5, tower B DLF, Cyber City, DLF, Phase-2, Sector-25, Gurugram (Haryana)-122002.

3. Central Bank of India, Sector-7, Karnal Account no.1516530424 of Preeti Kalra.

                                                                         …..Opposite Parties.

 

           Complaint u/s 12 of the Consumer Protection Act. 

 

Before    Sh. Jaswant Singh……President. 

                Dr. Rekha Chaudhary…….Member

 

 Present  None for complainant

                Shri Pardeep Sharma Advocate for opposite party no.1.

                Shri Pankaj Malhotra Advocate for opposite party no.2.

                Shri V.S. Malik Advocate for opposite party no.3.

 

                   (Jaswant Singh President)

ORDER:                    

 

                        This complaint has been filed by the complainant u/s 12 of the Consumer Protection Act 1986 on the averments that on 23.01.2018 complainant had booked three tickets with OP no.1 through OP no.2 on line from Delhi to Dubai in the name of complainant, her husband Mr. Nitin Kalra and her daughter Kalash Kalra. At the time of booking complainant paid Rs.24,000/- through State Bank of India Sector 7 Karnal for Indigo Airlines 6E-47 and the flight was of 3^rd February, 2018 at 2.05 a.m to 4.45 a.m. at Terminal T3. On the same day i.e. 23.01.2018 at around 8.00 o.clock, complainant had also booked three tickets with OP no.1 through OP no.2 online from Dubai to Delhi in their names and h ad paid an amount of Rs.24,000/- for Air India Express IX-142 and the flight was of 10^th February, 2018 at 12.50 p.m. to 5.50 p.m. but in the said tickets of Dubai to Delhi, there was no terminal number, moreover the complainant had not received any message regarding terminal number information. On 10^th February, (the departure day), the complainant asked everyone such as hotel reception, taxi driver, metro station etc. regarding terminal number information and everyone told her Terminal T-1 for Indian flights then they reached there around 10.50 a.m. but they could not find any particulars of flight on Terminal T-1 and one official told the complainant Terminal T-2 for Air India Express Flight and then immediately they went to Terminal T-2 at around 12.00 p.m. and requested the concerned official of Terminal T-2 for boarding passes but the official flatly refused to give boarding passes and even misbehaved and said ‘your tickets have already been sold as you have come late.’ Then the complainant immediately met the senior officer in Airline office and requested them for boarding passes but they did not listen anything and misbehaved with her. Thereafter, complainant had re-arranged another three tickets and had paid 1950 Arab Emirates Dhiram (i.e an amount of Rs.38000/-). Due to this act and conduct of the OPs complainant suffered mental pain, agony and harassment as well as financial loss. In this way there was deficiency in service on the part of the OPs. Hence complainant filed the present complaint.

2.             Notice of the complaint was given to the OPs, OP no.1 appeared and filed written version raising preliminary objections with regard to maintainability; complaint is premature and concealment of true and material facts. On merits, it is pleaded that the complainant has taken the service of OP no.2 as per his version so there is no direct liability of OP no.1. The inconvenience suffered is due to OP no.2 as alleged. It is further pleaded that OP no.1 is a Government Undertaking they have no grudge or malafide intention to any particular customer. Its in a service sector and it is well established that the flights services which provided better services to the customers, they survive so there is no direct or indirect inconvenience caused by the OP no.1 to the complainant as alleged. It is further pleaded that there was no information of flights on terminal one and two as alleged. It is the matter of the Airport authority, the OP no.1 has nothing to do with this. It is further pleaded that complainant never approached the concerned authority of OP no.1 immediately about her grievance and straightway file the present complaint. It is further pleaded that the OP no.2, who has to explain the complainant what wrong happened to complainant. So, there is no deficiency in service on the part of the OP no.1 and prayed for dismissal of the complaint.

3.             OP no.2 appeared and filed its separate written statement stating therein that it is admitted fact that complainant booked three Air Tickets, vide booking ID no.NN7302619025183 for herself, her husband and her daughter through OP no.2 on 23.01.2018 to fly on 03.02.2018 from Delhi to Dubai of Indigo Airlines and paid an amount of Rs.24,000/- and also booked Air Tickets, vide booking ID no.NN7301119026709 on the same day to fly from Dubai to Delhi on 10.02.2018 of Air India and paid an amount of Rs.24,000/- and further alleged that on 10.02.2018, on the day of departure from Dubai, when they reached at the Airport, the official of OP no.1 refused to give boarding passes on the ground that your tickets have already been sold as your have come late. It is admitted fact that the boarding passes were denied by the OP no.1 Airlines and it is not the case of the complainant that no confirmed tickets were there. Further, admittedly, in the e. tickets, it was clearly mentioned that check-in-desk will close two hours before and it is own case of the complainant that she reached around 10.50 a.m. at the Airport in Dubai on 10.02.2019. Thus, the complainant cannot take benefit of her own wrong and the present complaint is liable to be dismissed. Even otherwise, the denial of boarding passes does not fall under the purview of OP no.2 rather the same fall under the purview of OP no.1 and OP no.1 may be held deficient in providing the services, if any.

4.             OP no.3 filed its reply raising preliminary objections with regard to maintainability; cause of action; locus standi; mis-joinder and non-joinder of necessary parties and complainant has not come before this Forum with clean hands and suppressed the material facts. On merits, it is pleaded that as per the record of the Bank a sum of Rs.24,000/- has  been deducted from the account no.1516530424 belonging to Priti Kalra. There is no deficiency in service on the part of the OP no.3. The other allegations made in the complaint have been denied and prayed for dismissal of the complaint.

5.             Complainant tendered into evidence her affidavit Ex.CW1/A and documents C1 to Ex.C7 and closed the evidence on 07.06.2019.

6.             On the other hand, OP no.1 tendered no evidence after availing several opportunities including last opportunity. Hence the evidence of the OP no.1 was closed by court order dated 13.11.2019.

7.             OP no.2 tendered into evidence affidavit of Ekank Mehra Ex.OP2/Aand documents Ex.OP2/B and Ex.OP2/C and closed the evidence on 11.10.2019.

8.             OP no.3 tendered into evidence affidavit of Sunil Kumar Branch Manager Ex.OP3/A and closed the evidence on 13.11.2019.

9.             We have heard the learned counsel of both the parties and perused the case file carefully and have also gone through the evidence led by the parties.

10.            The case of the complainant, in brief, is that on 23.01.2018 she had booked three tickets with OP no.1 through OP no.2 on line, from Delhi to Dubai for herself, her husband and for her daughter. At the time of booking complainant paid Rs.24,000/- and the flight was of 3^rd February, 2018 at 2.05 a.m to 4.45 a.m. at Terminal T3. On the same day complainant had also booked three tickets with OP no.1 through OP no.2 online from Dubai to Delhi in their names and had paid an amount of Rs.24,000/- for Air India Express IX-142 and the flight was of 10^th February, 2018 at 12.50 p.m. to 5.50 p.m. but in the said tickets of Dubai to Delhi, there was no terminal number, moreover the complainant had not received any message regarding terminal number information. On 10^th February, (the departure day), the complainant enquired regarding terminal number information and everyone told her Terminal T-1 for Indian flights then they reached there around 10.50 a.m. but they could not find any particulars of flight on Terminal T-1 and one official told the complainant Terminal T-2 for Air India Express Flight and then immediately they went to Terminal T-2 at around 12.00 p.m. and requested the concerned official of Terminal T-2 for boarding passes but the official flatly refused to give boarding passes and even misbehaved and said ‘your tickets have already been sold as you have come late.’ Then the complainant immediately met the senior officer in Airline office and requested them for boarding passes but they did not listen anything and misbehaved with her. Thereafter, complainant had re-arranged another three tickets and had paid 1950 Arab Emirates Dhiram (i.e an amount of Rs.38000/-).

11.            On the other hand, the case of the OP no.1 is that complainant had taken the service of OP no.2 as per his version so there is no direct liability of OP no.1. The inconvenience suffered is due to OP no.2 as alleged. OP no.1 is a Government Undertaking they have no grudge or malafide intention to any particular customer. Its in a service sector and it is well established that the flights services which provide better services to the customers, they survives so there is no direct or indirect inconvenience caused by the OP no.1 to the complainant.

12.            Complainant booked three Air Tickets, vide booking ID no.NN7302619025183 for herself, her husband and her daughter through OP no.2 on 23.01.2018 to fly on 03.02.2018 from Delhi to Dubai of Indigo Airlines and paid an amount of Rs.24,000/- and also booked Air Tickets, vide booking ID no.NN7301119026709 on the same day to fly from Dubai to Delhi on 10.02.2018 of Air India and paid an amount of Rs.24,000/- and further alleged that on 10.02.2018, on the day of departure from Dubai, when they reached at the Airport, the official of OP no.1 refused to give boarding passes on the ground that your tickets have already been sold as your have come late. Further, in the e. tickets, it was clearly mentioned that check-in-desk will close two hours before and it is own case of the complainant that she reached around 10.50 a.m. at the Airport in Dubai on 10.02.2019. Thus, the complainant cannot take benefit of her own wrong and the present complaint is liable to be dismissed. Even otherwise, the denial of boarding passes do not fall under the purview of OP no.2 rather the same fall under the purview of OP no.1.

13.            The case of the OP no.3 is that as per the record of the Bank a sum of Rs.24,000/- has  been deducted from the account no.1516530424 belonging to Priti Kalra.

14.            Admittedly, on 23.01.2018 the complainant had booked three tickets with OPs from Delhi to Dubai, flight was of 3^rd February, 2018. The complainant, on the same day also booked  the tickets from Dubai to Delhi for 10^th February, 2018. As per the complainant, she alongwith her family reached terminal No.1 at the airport Dubai at about 10.50. Accordingly to Ticket Confirmation Ex.C1 and Ex.C2, check-in-desks will close 2 hours before departure. During the course of argument, the complainant submits that she alongwith her family member reached the Terminal-1 at about 11.00 a.m. Main grievance of the complainant is that on the tickets terminal number was not mentioned by OPs.

15.            The tickets in question has been booked on 23.01.2018 and it is not possible that the complainant did not verify from the tickets that Terminal number has not been mentioned. If the Terminal number was not mentioned upon the tickets, the complainant has sufficient time to verify the Terminal Number. The complainant is well qualified and Doctor by profession. As per the complainant, she reached the correct Terminal at about 12.00 noon. The departure time of the flight was 12.50 and passengers are required to reach airport for checking two hours before departure.  It is not expected from such educated and qualified person not to verify the Terminal before reaching the airport. OPs cannot be blamed for the carelessness of the complainant. Thus, in view of the facts and circumstances of the case, we are of the considered view that OPs are not deficient in service. There is no force in the complaint of complainant and same deserves to be dismissal.

16.            Thus, as a sequel to abovesaid discussion, we do not find any merits in the complaint and the same is hereby dismissed. No order as to costs. The parties concerned be communicated of the order accordingly and the file be consigned to the record room after due compliance.

Announced

Dated:06.12.2019                                                                       

                                                                  President,

                                                           District Consumer Disputes

                                                           Redressal Forum, Karnal.

               

                 (Dr. Rekha Chaudhary)

                                Member