Complaint Under section 34 & 35 of the Consumer Protection Act.
QUORUM:
SH. SANJEEV BATRA, PRESIDENT
SH. JASWINDER SINGH, MEMBER
MS. MONIKA BHAGAT, MEMBER
COUNSEL FOR THE PARTIES:
For complainant : Sh. Prabhbir Singh, Advocate.
For OPs : Exparte.
ORDER
PER MONIKA BHAGAT, MEMBER
1. In brief, the facts of the case are that OP1 is a private limited company duly incorporated under Indian Companies Act, 1956 and OP2 and OP3 are the directors of OP1, who is engaged in business of booking of various holidays destinations in different parts of India and throughout world. According to the complainant, it has been mentioned on the website of the OPs that they guarantee good vacation for all family and they will make the holiday spent being a trusted tour and travel brand. The complainant stated that the OPs approached him and allured him to join their club and take their membership and also provided all their information in writing in the shape of print outs from their website. The further assured that they will provide/arrange best and perfect stay in different hotels in India and charged Rs.50,000/- from the complainant by misrepresenting him. The complainant being their representations to be true, paid Rs.50,000/- to the OPs through his credit card on 05.09.2021. The OPs further represented that the complainant along with his family members can stay in any hotel twice a year and the membership is valid for 10 years. The complainant further stated that he and his family members planned to go for vacations in the month of December 2021 but they did not give any response to him. Again in the month of January 2022 and thereafter, on many occasions, the complainant made a plan to go for holiday vacation at the sites of the OPs but every times the OPs failed to provide any accommodation to the complainant and even did not reply t his emails and failed to pick up/attend his calls. Thus, the OPs have caused wrongly loss to the complainant and wrongful gain to themselves and even cheated the complainant by making false representations and spoiled his holidays. According to the complainant, the OPs did not provide even a single day stay to him and his family members till date and they have charged Rs.50,000/- by misrepresentation him. Thus, the OPs are guilty of deficiency in service which has caused lot of pain, harassment, mental agony to the complainant. The complainant served a legal notice dated 26.04.2021 to the Ops calling upon them to refund Rs.50,000/- but to no effect. Hence this complaint whereby the complainant has prayed for issuing directions to the OPs to refund the amount of Rs.50,000/- along with litigation expenses of Rs.2,00,000/- and litigation expenses of Rs.33,000/-.
2. None turned up on behalf of the OPs despite service of notice through registered post and as such, the OP1 and OP2 were proceeded against exparte vide order dated 06.12.2022 and OP3 was proceeded against exparte vide order dated 23.02.2023.
3. In support of his claim, the complainant tendered his affidavit Ex. CA in which he reiterated the allegations and the claim of compensation as stated in the complaint. The complainant also tendered documents Ex. C1 is the copy of Aadhar card of the complainant, Ex. C2 is the copy of legal notice dated 26.04.2020, Ex. C3 is the postal receipt, Ex. C4 to Ex. C10 are the copies of emails, Ex. C11 is the copy of text message, Ex. C12 and Ex. C13 are the copies of credit card, An3nxure-13 is the copy of certificate U/s.65-B of Indian Evidence Act, 1872, Ex. C14 is the copy of brochure of the OPs and closed the evidence.
4. We have heard the arguments of the counsel for the complainant and also gone through the complaint, affidavit and annexed documents produced on record by the complainant.
5. It has been stated by the complainant in the complaint as well as in the affidavit Ex.CA that he obtained membership from the OPs for a sum of Rs.50,000/-. The payment of Rs.50,000/- is mentioned in the text message Ex.C11 in favour of Club Destinasia. Further the perusal of emails Ex. C8 shows that the complainant booked holiday package at Dharamshala/Palampur in the month of February-March 2022 and further perusal of email Ex. C9 shows that the complainant booked holiday package with the Ops at Mussoorie from 18-20 March 2022. However, as per the complainant, the OPs did not respond to his emails and even did not book any resort/hotel for her planned holidays tour. So the lucrative offer extended by the OPs at the time of inducing the complainant for enrolment of the complainant as a member turned out to be false and misleading on the very first year of the enrolment. This clearly not only amounts to deficiency of service but also is an unfair trade practice on the part of the OPs. The allegations made in the complaint and in the affidavit Ex.CA have gone unrebutted on record as the OPs did not chose to contest the case and were proceeded against exparte. In these circumstances, this Commission is of the considered view that since it has been proved on record that the OPs have been guilty of providing deficient service and have also been resorting to unfair trade practice, they are liable to refund the membership fee of Rs.50,000/- to the complainant as the complainant does not want to retain the membership any further and the OPs are further burdened to pay composite costs of Rs.10,000/- to the complainant.
6. As a result of above discussion, the complaint is partly allowed to the extent that the OPs shall refund the amount of Rs.50,000/- to the complainant within 30 days from the date of receipt of copy of order, failing which the complainant shall be held entitled to interest @8% per annum from the date of order till its actual payment. The complainant is further held entitled to a composite costs of Rs.10,000/-(Rupees Ten Thousand only). The compliance of the order be made within 30 days from the date of receipt of copy of order. Copies of order be supplied to parties free of costs as per rules. File be indexed and consigned to record room.
7. Due to huge pendency of cases, the complaint could not be decided within statutory period.
(Monika Bhagat) (Jaswinder Singh) (Sanjeev Batra)
Member Member President
Announced in Open Commission.
Dated:07.11.2023.
Gobind Ram.
