Consumer forum orders ₹1 lakh compensation to railway passenger whose reserved berth sold to some other passenger

The Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Delhi recently ordered the East Central Railways to pay ₹1 lakh as compensation to a complainant who was not provided a berth despite making a reservation one month prior to the journey [Inder Nath Jha v Union of India]..The order was passed by Commission Member Rashmi Bansal on a plea by one Inder Nath Jha who alleged that the berth which he had been allotted, was sold to someone else and he discovered the same when he boarded the train.“People do take reservation in advance in the expectation of comfortable and easy journey. But complainant, despite taking reservation a month prior to the scheduled date of journey had terrible journey and faced hardship, suffered humiliation, trauma and anguish,” Commission said in its order..The Commission found the East Central Railways (Opposite Party/ OP) was guilty of deficiency in service and gross negligence for not providing the complainant a berth. Thus, a sum of ₹50,000 was directed to be paid for negligence and deficiency in service.A further sum of ₹25,000 was to be paid for causing the complainant physical discomfort, mental agony, trauma, harassment and humiliation.Finally, another sum of ₹25,000 along with an interest at the rate of 6% per annum from the date of institution of the case was ordered to paid for litigation costs..The petitioner had booked a ticket on January 2, 2008 for travel from Darbhanga to Delhi by Swatantra Senani Express on February 19, 2008. He was allotted coach no. S-4, berth 69.When he reached his berth, he found that it had been sold to someone else by the OP. Further, he informed the commission that he was also unwell at this time.On confronting the Traveling Ticket Examiner (TTE), he was given another seat in coach B-1. The OP claimed that this was upgraded under the Railway upgradation Scheme. However, it was the complainant’s contention that even this berth was not given to him and eventually he had to travel the entire journey standing.Allegedly, when the complainant said that he would make a complaint, he was further humiliated by the TTE and staff..The railways took a preliminary objection to the territorial jurisdiction of the Commission since the incident pertained to Darbhanga which lay in the jurisdiction of East Central Railways, Bihar.Further, it was their stand that the complainant did not board the train at the boarding point and turned up around 21:35 hours, 5 hours after departure. Thus, there was no deficiency on the part of the railway..The Commission rejected the preliminary objection to jurisdiction since part of the cause of action in the case arose when the complainant booked his ticket from Darbhanga to Delhi from Hazrat Nizamuddin Railway station.On the point of deficiency in service, the Commission first took note that the OPs had not submitted any document to show that information of upgradation was provided to the complainant in advance through any means.“In such situation, any prudent passenger is supposed to go to the berth that would be given to him at the time of reservation and same was done by the complainant,” the Commission found..Further, the OP itself admitted that the complainant’s berth in the AC coach was given to someone else on charge since he did not reach at the time agreed.However, it was the Commission’s opinion that in the absence of any source of information regarding upgradation, one could not imagine how the complainant would go to the AC Coach.Further, it was taken into account that there was no submission by the OP regarding any efforts made to accommodate the complainant. It was also stated that there was no evidence to show that complainant did not board train at Darbhanga..Therefore, it was concluded that there was negligence on the OP’s part for not informing the complainant about the upgradation as a result of which, he did not get any seat despite having a reservation..Finding that the OP had failed to discharge their burden of proof that that there was no negligence on their part, the commission made the award against the Railways.It was held that should the OP fail to comply with the Commission’s direction within three months, the compensation amount would carry an interest of 9% per annum till realisation..[Read Order]