DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM II
Udyog Sadan C 22 & 23 Qutub Institutional Area
(Behind Qutub Hotel) New Delhi 110016
Case No. 27/2016
Sh. Ram Nivas Kumar
HRM Flight
17 FBSU AF (Air Force Station Trivandrum)
C/o 56 APO
PIN 937217
….Complainant
Versus
Cupid Holiday Pvt. Ltd.
1 Forest Lane Ghitorani
Mehrauli Gurgaon Road
New Delhi 110030 ….Opposite Party
Date of Institution : 23.01.2016 Date of Order : 01.12.2017
Coram:
Sh. N.K. Goel President
Ms. Naina Bakshi Member
ORDER
Briefly stated the case of the complainant is that he had booked an air ticket consisting of 4 passengers on 14.08.15 from the OP under LTC 80 concession in Air India as per the following details:
(a) | Onward journey on date/from | | 03 November 2015/Kolkata |
(b) | Onward journey on date/to | | 03 November 2015/Port Blair |
(c) | Return journey on date/from | | 07 November 2015/Port Blair |
(d) | Return journey on date/to | | 07 November 2015/Kolkata |
(e) | PNR No. | | YNROP |
(f) | Passengers Name and Tickets Nos. | | Ram Nivas Kumar 098 9389039386 Namrata Singh 098 9389039387 Stuti Singh 098 9389039388 Lakshya Singh 098 9389039389 |
The air ticket issued by the OP was not under LTC 80 concession from Air India as per the Govt. of India guidelines and the OP had issued the ticket under general category. When the complainant examined about the authorized agencies for issue of LTC ticket concession as per the Govt. of India Policy it was noticed that the OP was not an authorized one to issue any such LTC 80 tickets and hence the OP had issued fake LTC 80 tickets to him. It is submitted that in case of submitting a claim to his account department the same would not be cleared as the OP issued the fake tickets under LTC 80. The complainant talked to the OP on mobile regarding the refund of the total amount and also sent a written complaint to the OP on 23.12.15 but the OP has not replied till date. It is prayed that the OP be directed to make the following payments to him:
(i) That opposite party be directed to refund the expenditure incurred by me and penalty to be charged to me by IAF Departments. Details are as mention below:
Serial No. | Type of Journey | Journey from | Journey to | Date | Total Fare |
01. | By Train | New Delhi | Kolkata and back | 23 10 15 and 22.11.15 | Rs.8752 |
02. | By Air | Kolkata | Port Blair and back | 03 11 15 and 07 11 15 | Rs.134000/ |
03. | 14% Penalty | To be charged by IAF Accounts department | | Rs.19985/ |
Total amount should be refunded to me from Cupid Holidays | Rs.162737/ |
(ii) I may please be compensated minimum of Rs.3 00 00/ for the mental agony and harassment caused to me in the course.
(iii) Cost of litigation may also be awarded suitably.
OP has been proceeded exparte vide order dated 08.08.16.
Complainant has filed his own affidavit in exparte evidence.
We have heard the complainant and have also gone through the file very carefully.
The complainant has filed the copy of the important circular bearing No. AN/XIV/14162/TA/DA/LTC dated 24.08.2011 issued from the office of the Controller General of Defence Accounts Delhi Cantt. New Delhi. Vide this circular instructions on booking of tickets from an agency other than the authorized travel agents have been issued which inter alia provides that the air tickets may be purchased directly from airlines (booking counters/website of airlines) or by utilizing the service of Authorized Travel Agents viz M/s Balmer Lawrie & Company and M/s Ashok Travels & Tours. Therefore as per this circular the complainant who is a defence service employee was required to purchase the air tickets in question from the two authorized travel agents or directly from the airlines.
The complainant has filed the copy of E Ticket Itinerary Receipt dated 14.08.15 for journey on 03.11.15 and 07.11.15 from Kolkata Port Blair Kolkata wherein the total cost of the trip has been shown as Rs.1 22 040/ . We mark the document as Annexure 1 for the purposes of identification.
There is evidence on the record to show that the complainant had booked a package tour for himself and his three family members from Kolkata to Port Blair and back through the OP and the said air tickets had been issued to him under LTC Leave Travel Concession – category and not in general category. Copy of e tickets receipts also show that the Air India had issued the tickets to & fro Kolkata & Port Blair to the complainant and three members of his family under LTC Leave Travel Concession. Thus the air tickets in question had been issued to the complainant and his three family members under LTC Leave Travel Concession.
In our considered opinion it was the duty of the complainant himself to assure that he was getting the booking of air tickets done through an authorized travel agent. If he for any reason whatsoever which may include his ignorance about issuance of the important circular dated 24.08.2011 referred to above failed to get the air tickets booked as per the mandate contained in the circular it is the complainant who has to blame himself and he is not entitled to shift his blame to OP.
In our considered opinion it was not the duty of the OP to tell the complainant that the complainant had been getting the tickets issued from a non authorized travel agent.
The complainant has not disclosed as to what happened to the air tickets got booked by him through the OP – whether he had got the refund of air tickets from the OP or from the Air India. Secondly he had got the air tickets booked from Kolkata. Therefore he is even otherwise not entitled to claim train journey charges amounting to Rs.8 752/ from the OP. Thirdly he has shown the air fare from Kolkata Port Blair Kolkata for 03.11.2015 and 07.11.2015 as Rs. 1 34 000/ . However he has not filed even a single document in this regard which may show that he had not travelled by using the air tickets got booked through the OP and had got the tickets issued under LTC Leave Travel Concession from some other authorized travel agent. He has claimed Rs.19 985/ as 14% penalty to be charged by his department i.e. IAF accounts department. This shows that the complainant has infact submitted his LTC claim before the concerned branch office/department and the branch has raised the objections regarding purchasing of the air tickets from non authorized travel agent and hence the complainant has filed the present complaint.
Having considered the matter from every point of view we may have sympathy with the complainant but we are sorry to say that he has failed to prove any deficiency in service and unfair trade practice on the part of the OP.
Complaint stands dismissed.
Let a copy of this order be sent to the parties as per regulation 21 of the Consumer Protection Regulations. Thereafter file be consigned to record room.
Announced on 01.12.17.
