- Smt. Nirmala Birla,
- Smt. Ganga Devi Somany,
- Sri Rajeev Jhawar,
- Sri Promod Chandra Agarwala,
- Sri Shyam Sundar Jajodia,
All trustees of Modern High School for Girls Trust, a
trust having its office at
78, Syed Amer Ali Avenue,
P.S. Karaya, Kolkata-19, represented by its
constituted attorney Mr. Shyam Sundar Jajodia,
4, Lord Sinha Road, Kolkata-17. _________ Complainant
____Versus____
- DTDC Courier & Cargo Ltd.
5B, Dilkusha Street,
P.S. Karaya, Kolkata-19. ________ Opposite Party
Present : Sri Sankar Nath Das, Hon’ble President
Dr. Subir Kumar Chaudhuri, Member.
Smt. Samiksha Bhattacharya, Member
Order No. 16 Dated 15-07-2015.
The case of the complainants in short is that complainants are the trustees of the Modern High School for Gilrs’. The said trustees operate the said school situated within this jurisdiction. The aforesaid school is affiliated to the council for the Indian school certificate examinations. The students of the school follow the curriculum of the council and appear for their Class-X and Class-XII examinations as prescribed by the council.
Complainants further stated that 166 nos. of students appeared for the year 2011-2012 for Class-X examination as conducted by the council. The question papers are sent by the council to the school. Complainants further stated that at the end of each examination the answer scripts are shield in a packet in presence of the supervising examiner and are sent to the office of the council at Noida, U.P. through o.p. Complainants further stated that on 7.3.12 the answer scripts for Geography for Class-X of 166 nos. of students were sent to o.p. for onward transmission of the same at their office of the council at Noida.
Complainants further stated that on 18.4.12 complainants were surprised to receive a letter dt.13.4.12 from the council stating that the answer scripts for the aforesaid Geography examination had not been received by them. A copy of the said letter has been annexed by complainants with the petition of complaint as annex-D. In this context it may be mentioned that the copy of the receipt issued by o.p. in respect of receiving the said consignment for onward transmission of the same to Noida has been annexed by complainant with the petition of complaint. In this context complainants further stated that complainants used to send all answer scripts at their council of Noida through o.p. company.
Immediately after receiving the said letter dt.13.4.12 representative of complainants went to the office of o.p. for enquiring in respect of non receiving of the consignment by consignee but no satisfactory answer has been received from o.p. Besides, complainants further stated that the relevant website of o.p. shows that the consignment “In transit”. A copy of such document as down loaded from the website has been annexed by complainants with the petition of complaint as annex-E. Complainants further stated that by a letter dt.23.4.12 issued by o.p. that the consignment as stated above had been lost. A copy of such letter has been annexed by complainants with the petition of complaint as annex-G. Immediately after receiving of the same complainants lodged a complaint with the local P.S. in respect of the loss of the answer scripts.
Thereafter, complainants further stated that the council situated at Noida was informed of the aforesaid facts and thereby a letter dt.23.4.12 complainants were informed that a reexamination would have to be held. A copy of such letter issued by council dt.23.4.12 has been annexed with the petition of complaint as annex-I. In the aforesaid letter the council instructed the complainants that the examination would be held on 30.4.12. Complainants further stated that they had to make necessary arrangement for holding the examination in question within a notice of only seven days.
After holding examination the competent authority had been declared the result for the examination in question for the year 2011-2012 in due time with that of the same examination of the council of different schools situated in different parts of India. Under such condition complainants filed the instant case before this Forum with the prayers contained in the prayer portion of the petition of complaint.
O.p. appeared before this Forum by filing w/v and contested the case. Ld. lawyer of o.p. stated that in the reverse portion of the consignment note the terms and conditions for the consignment has been narrated. Ld. lawyer of o.p. submitted that complainants should have gone through the terms and conditions of the transactions as laid down by o.p. before dispatching the consignment. Ld. lawyer of o.p. submitted that complainants did not book the consignment note “Risk Coverage Policy” and as such, complainants are not entitled to get any benefit since the consignment has not been insured by complainants before dispatching of the same to o.p. and as such, o.p. has no liability for the same. Further ld. lawyer of o.p. stated that no student of the aforesaid year had come forward before this Forum for claiming any deficiency of service towards o.p. and under such submissions ld. lawyer of o.p. prayed for dismissal of the case on the ground stated hereinabove.
Decision with reasons:
Upon considering the submissions of both the parties and on careful scrutiny of the entire materials on record, this Forum hold that o.p. cannot avoid the responsibility for delivery of the consignment to the appropriate consignee in due time. Needles to mention that considering the reputation of o.p., complainants used to send the answer scripts of the students to o.p. for delivery at the address of consignee specially it is associated with the future of 166 no. of students since the consignment carries the answer scripts and complainants used to dispatch of the consignment i.e. answer scripts etc. through o.p. to their council at Noida for other examinations too. The grounds put forward by ld. lawyer of o.p. is not at all tenable considering the importance of the consignment no less than answer scripts of 166 nos. of students of Class-X examination which relates to future of such students. Besides o.p. themselves had admitted that answer scripts had been lost by a letter to the complainants. So, in that case this Forum hold without doubt that deficiency had been made by o.p. to their consumers / complainants. Besides, this Forum hold that complainants had a tremendous job to hold the reexamination of the aforesaid subject of the concerned year within a notice of only seven days. Considering the aforesaid circumstances and the tremendous responsibility rendered by complainants as stated above this forum have come to the conclusion that complainants have successfully made out their case in respect of the deficiency of service to o.p. as service provider and complainants are entitled to relief.
Hence, ordered,
That the case is allowed on contest with cost against the o.p. O.p. is directed to pay to the complainant i.e. trustee of the school in question compensation of Rs.15,00,000/- (Rupees fifteen lakhs) only for harassment and mental agony and litigation cost of Rs.10,000/- (Rupees ten thousand) only within 30 days from the date of communication of this order, i.d. an interest @ 10% p.a. shall accrue over the entire sum due to the credit of the complainant till full realization.
Supply certified copy of this order to the parties free of cost.
