: Millions of people in different parts of the country reach their destination very easily by train. Also, train travel is a great deal in every case, be it a long distance trip or a near one. Even, the cost of traveling by train is much less than other forms of public transport. Meanwhile, various steps are also taken by the railways to provide proper service to the passengers.
However, from time to time there are incidents related to passenger services which lead to huge fines for railways. In the present report we will present the context of one such incident. Due to which the railway has already faced a penalty of 20 thousand rupees.
What exactly happened: According to the information received in this context, it is known that the Railways is facing fine due to AC failure in Shatabdi Express. Basically, the Delhi Consumer Commission fined the railways Rs 20,000 for not fixing the faulty AC despite a passenger’s complaint. Besides, Railways will have to pay Tk 10,000 towards the cost of the case to the complainant.
Meanwhile, the Commission rejected the Railways’ demand while taking this important decision. Where the Railways stated that the consumer forum has no jurisdiction to hear complaints of any inconvenience during travel. Rather, the passenger has to file a complaint with the Railway Claims Tribunal.
In this case, the Commission said Section 3 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 and earlier decisions of the Supreme Court have made it clear that consumer forums have the right to hear complaints of consumers against railways. Apart from this, the Commission also dismissed the appeal filed by the Divisional Railway Manager of Northern Railway against the imposition of penalty on the Railways by the Northern District Consumer Forum.