Chandigarh

DF-I

CC/92/2018

Vikram Bains - Complainant(s)

Versus

Air Vistara - Opp.Party(s)

PuruJarewal

23 Aug 2018

ORDER

DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM-I,

U.T. CHANDIGARH

 

 

                               

Consumer Complaint No.	:	CC/92/2018
Date of Institution	:	09/02/2018
Date of Decision	:	23/08/2018

 

Vikram Bains son of Shri Sudhir Azad, resident of House No. 2864, Sector 37-C, Chandigarh.

…..Complainant

V E R S U S

Air Vistara, through its Managing Director/Authorized Signatory TATA SIA Airlines Limited, Jeevan Bharti                 Tower-I, 10^th Floor, 124 Connaught Circus, New Delhi-110001, India.

…… Opposite Party

 

CORAM :	RATTAN SINGH THAKUR	PRESIDENT
	MRS.SURJEET KAUR	MEMBER
	SURESH KUMAR SARDANA	MEMBER

 

                                                                       

ARGUED BY

:

None

Per Suresh Kumar Sardana, member

1.         The facts of the consumer complaint, in brief, are that the Complainant planned a vacation with his wife to Kerala and booked flight with Opposite Party scheduled to depart at 06.00 A.M. from Delhi to Cochin on 15.11.2017. The Complainant reached the airport 45 minutes prior to the scheduled departure, but the Opposite Party did not allow him and his wife to board the flight. In these circumstances, the Complainant had to arrange tickets from some other airline for their onward journey. Eventually, the Complainant requested the Opposite Party for refund, which was denied to him. With the cup of woes brimming, the Complainant has filed the instant consumer complaint, alleging that the aforesaid acts amount to deficiency in service and unfair trade practice on the part of the Opposite Party.
2.         Opposite Party filed its reply admitting the basic facts of the case. It has been pleaded that the Complainant approached the check-in-counter at the IGI Airport at 05:27 hrs for a flight scheduled for departure at 06.00 hrs, which was twelve minutes post closure of the check-in-counter and only three minutes before the closure of boarding gates. The ticket of the Complainant was hence considered a ‘Now Show’. It has been asserted that any loss that has been incurred by the Complainant was not attributable to the answering Opposite Party as he missed the flight due to his own delay/negligence. Pleading that there is no deficiency in service or unfair trade practice on its part, Opposite Party has prayed for dismissal of the complaint.
3.         The parties led evidence in support of their contentions.
4.         We have gone through the entire record with utmost care and circumspection.
5.         The Opposite Party has made submission that the Complainant has arrived few minutes late at the ticket counter. On perusal of various documents, we find that the Complainant was offered boarding pass, provided he does not carry the luggage.
6.         We are not very much convinced with the submission tendered, because the Opposite Party has miserably failed to produce any documentary evidence to show that the Complainant has arrived few minutes late to the ticket counter. The act of the Opposite Party in not allowing the Complainant to board the plane on irrational reasons, to our mind amounts to deficiency in service and makes a clear pointer towards the fact that Opposite Party is indulged into unfair trade practice, which certainly has caused unprecedented physical and mental harassment to the Complainant and forced him to indulge in the present unnecessary litigation. 
7.         In view of the foregoings, we are of the opinion that the present Complaint must succeed. The same is accordingly partly allowed. Opposite Party is directed as under:-

[a]    To refund Rs.17,844/- to the Complainant along with interest 9% per annum from 15.11.2017, till realization.

[b]    To pay Rs.7,000/- as compensation on account of deficiency in service and causing mental and physical harassment to the Complainant; 

[c]    To pay Rs.5,000/- as cost of litigation;

8.      The above said order shall be complied within 30 days of its receipt by the Opposite Party; thereafter, it shall be liable for an interest @12% per annum on the amount mentioned in sub-para [a] above from 15.11.2017, till it is paid. The compensation amount as per sub-para [b] above, shall carry interest @12% per annum from the date of institution of this complaint, till it is paid, apart from cost of litigation as in sub-para [c].

 

9.         The certified copies of this order be sent to the parties free of charge. The file be consigned.

	Sd/-	Sd/-	Sd/-
23/08/2018	[Suresh Kumar Sardana]	[Surjeet Kaur]	[Rattan Singh Thakur]
	Member	Member	President
Dutt”