Before the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Rohtak.
Complaint No. : 272.
Instituted on : 28.07.2020.
Decided on : 08.11.2021
Tushar Pahwa age 27 years, Advocate s/o Sh. Vinod Pahwa Advocate R/o 1115/18, Shivam Enclave, Rohtak.
Also At: 171 Lawyer’s Chamber, Ground Floor, Gate no.1, District Courts, Rohtak. ...........Complainant.
Vs.
- GOIBIBO through its CEO/Managing Director/Authorized Agent, IBIBO Group, 19th Floor, Tower A,B,C, Epitome Building No.5, DLF Phase 2, Sector 24, Gurugram-122002(Haryana).
- Go AIRLINES(INDIA) LTD. Through it CEO/Managing Director/authorized Agent, 1st Floor, C-1, Wadia International Centre(WIC), Pandurang Budhkar Marg, Worli, Mumbai-400025.
……….Opposite parties.
COMPLAINT U/S 12 OF CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT,1986.
BEFORE: SH.NAGENDER SINGH KADIAN, PRESIDENT.
DR.TRIPTI PANNU, MEMBER.
Present: Complainant Sh. Tushar Pahwa, Advocate in person.
Sh.Gaurav Arya, Advocate for the opposite party No.1.
Sh.Rajiv Kumar Gupta, Advocate for opposite party No.2.
ORDER
NAGENDER SINGH KADIAN, PRESIDENT:
1. Brief facts of the case are that the complainant is consumer of opposite parties and he booked two Air tickets in his name and in the name of his wife Aastha Makkar from New Delhi to Phuket for Rs.25926/- and Phuket to New Delhi for Rs.24754/- on dated 27.01.2020 vide PNR No.E31ZK1 from Rohtak through the website of opposite party No.1. The date of travel from New Delhi to Phuket was 02.03.2020 and date of journey from Phuket to New Delhi was 08.03.2020. Both the tickets were booked by opposite party no.1 on behalf of opposite party no.2 being authorized agent. Complainant alongwith his wife boarded the flight of opposite party no.2 from New Delhi to Phuket and stayed there but on 04.03.2020 the complainant was shocked to receive a message from opposite party no.2 that: “your return flight from Phuket to New Delhi has been cancelled” and also received cancellation email from OP No.2 in which it was mentioned that : “If you wish to avail the option of FULL REFUND or a flight from the same sector on the previous day, same day or next day at no extra charges(Subject to availability) then they requested to call on their toll free number. Complainant requested the opposite party to book another flight on the same day i.e. 08.03.2020 but the same was not available on that day and to check–out on day after was not possible for the complainant as he had already paid the entire amount of accommodation in a 5 star hotel and if the complainant checkout a day before the booking, then the hotel authorities were not refunding the amount which was already paid to them upto 08.03.2020. If the complainant extend his journey then he had to pay a huge amount to the hotel for accommodation and food etc. The complainant went to Phuket for Honeymoon and he was not having a huge amount there. Complainant asked the representative of opposite party no.2 to refund the amount and opposite party no.2 assured the complainant that the same will be refunded in his account. Complainant arranged the amount from his friend and booked another ticket for return journey on 08.03.2020 from the flight of Indigo Airlines. After reaching India complainant approached the opposite party No.1 for refunding the amount of Rs.24754/- i.e. return fair then after repeated requests, opposite party No.1 issued a credit shell(refund voucher) of Rs.16244/- and has deducted the amount of Rs.8510/- without any reason, right and authority. The refund voucher is an offer for another journey from the flights of opposite party no.2 with some conditions within one year which was of no use for the complainant, as the complainant was not having any plan of journey by air within next year. Complainant requested the opposite parties to refund the amount and also served a legal notice dated 20.05.2020 but to no effect. The act of opposite parties is illegal and amounts to deficiency in service. Hence this complaint ad it is prayed that opposite parties may kindly be directed to refund the complete amount of booking Rs.24754/- alongwith interest, compensation of Rs.400000/- on account of financial loss, mental agony and harassment and also to pay litigation expenses of Rs.55000/- to the complainant.
2. After registration of complaint, notices were issued to the opposite parties. Opposite party No.1 in its reply has submitted that complainant himself has admitted that the said return-sector flight booking from Phuket-New Delhi was cancelled by the opposite party No.2 i.e. Go Air, Further, it is submitted that the complainant has further admitted that he himself had opted for the refund for the said cancellation and the said refund has duly been processed to the complainant to the tune of Rs.16244/- as Credit Vouchers in accordance to the terms and conditions of the said discount offer, and the Cancellation Policies of the answering opposite party and the opposite party No.2 i.e. Go Air which were duly agreed and consented upon by the complainant at the time of making of said booking. The rest of contents does not pertain to the answering opposite party and hence need no reply. It is submitted that the complainant had availed the ‘Travel Mondays’offer in collaboration with the ICICI Bank which provided him a discount amount to the tune of Rs.4054/- by applying the coupon code ‘GOICICI’ at the time of making the payment. Before availing the said discount amount through the said discount offer, in addition to the User Agreement and Cancellation Policies of the opposite parties, the complainant also agreed to the terms and conditions of the said discount offer which clearly stated that in the event of a cancellation, the complainant shall not be entitled to the discount and the answering opposite party shall refund the amount paid AFTER DEDUCTING the discount amount and other applicable cancellation charges/penalties in accordance to the cancellation policies of both the answering opposite party and the concerned Airlines. All the other contents of the complaint were stated to be wrong and denied and opposite party prayed for dismissal of complaint with costs.
3. Opposite party No.2 in its reply has submitted that the complainant had booked ticket for to and fro from New Delhi to Phuket and Phuket to New Delhi for the total amount of Rs.48484/-. The return flight was cancelled due to operational reasons which was beyond the control of opposite party No.2. The complainant was informed four days prior to cancellation of the said flight. The complainant was also given an offer for alternate flight or in the alternative, the refund of ticket amount. But the complainant has opted for second option and accordingly the refund of full ticket booking amount was processed on the same day i.e. 04.03.2020 in the complainant’s travel agent account. There is no default on its part and there is no inconvenience caused to the complainant. It is prayed that complaint may kindly be dismissed with costs.
4. Ld. Counsel for the complainant in his evidence has tendered affidavit Ex.CW1/A, and documents Ex.C1 to Ex.C20 and has closed his evidence on dated 18.02.2021. On the other hand, ld. Counsel for the OP No.1 has tendered affidavit Ex.RW1/A, documents Ex.R1 to Ex.R8 and has closed his evidence on dated 08.03.2021. Ld. Counsel for opposite party No.2 has tendered affidavit Ex.RW2/A, documents Ex.R2/1 to Ex.R2/3 and closed his evidence on dated 15.04.2021.
5. We have heard learned counsel for the parties and have gone through material aspects of the case very carefully.
6. In the present case it is not disputed that the return flight ticket of the complainant and his wife from Phuket-New Delhi for 08.03.2020 booked through opposite party No.1 was cancelled by the opposite party No.2. It is also not disputed that as per conversation made by complainant and opposite parties Ex.C16, at page no.2 it is confirmed that inspite of refunding the full booking amount of Rs.24754/-, opposite parties had issued credit voucher of Rs.16244/- for using the same for future booking. As per this conversation Ex.C16 to Ex.C18 dated 05.02.2020 to 10.05.2020, complainant made several requests to the opposite parties to refund the whole amount in his bank account but the only reply from the opposite party was that they have already issued the credit voucher of Rs.16244/-. As per Ex.C19 dated 02.12.2020, it was replied by the opposite party that they have initiated the refund from their end on the same mode of payment, from where he had paid the amount.
7. Hence from the documents placed on record, it is proved that the ticket of complainant and his wife was cancelled for 08.02.2020 but opposite parties did not refund the money despite repeated requests of the complainant and had issued credit voucher of Rs.16244/- only after deduction of Rs.8510/- without any reason. As per the definition of credit voucher given on page no.3 of Ex.C18, “Credit voucher can be used only for booking another flight ticket of same airlines within one year from the date of issuance of the voucher”. But the complainant was not in need of alleged voucher, so he made repeated requests to the opposite parties to refund the whole amount. But as per the affidavit Ex.CW1/A filed by the complainant, the amount of Rs.22727/- has been transferred in the bank account of complainant on 02.12.2020 by the opposite party No.2 after a period of more than one and half year after deducting the amount of Rs.2027/-. Hence due to cancellation of air ticket, he could not enjoy his journey and suffered great difficulty and harassment in arrangement of money and booking of ticket. Moreover, he had to make great persuasion to the opposite parties for refund of his amount and suffered great inconvenience. Whereas as per the terms and condition as mentioned in document Ex.R2, Sub section 3.3.1 of Section 3.3(Cancellation of Flight) states that : “In order to reduce inconvenience caused to the passengers as a result of the cancellations of the flights on which they are booked to travel, airline shall inform the passenger of the cancellation at least two weeks before the schedule time of departure and arrange alternate flight/refund as acceptable to the passenger. In case the passengers are informed of the cancellation less than two weeks before and upto 24 hours of the schedule time of departure, the airline shall offer alternate flight allowing them to depart within two hours of their booked scheduled time of departure”. As such, it was the duty of the opposite parties to arrange the alternate flight or refund the booking amount with immediate effect as the cancellation of ticket was made by themselves and not on the request of complainant. Hence there is great deficiency in service on the part of opposite parties and opposite parties are liable to compensate the complainant. In this regard law cited by ld. Counsel for the complainant of Hon’ble State Commission, (U.T.) Chandigarh in Appeal Case no.1003, 1004, 755, 756 of 2008 decided on 09.09.2008 titled as Ethiopian Airlines Vs. Naveen Singh Grewal and Anr. is fully applicable on the facts and circumstances of the case.
8. In view of the facts and circumstances of the case we hereby allow the complaint and direct the opposite parties to pay interest @ 9% p.a. on the amount of Rs.22727/- from the date of cancellation of ticket i.e. 04.03.2020 till its payment i.e. 02.12.2020, to refund Rs.2027/-(Rupees two thousand and twenty seven only) alongwith interest @9% p.a. from dated 04.03.2020 till is realisation and also to pay Rs.30000/-(Rupees thirty thousand only) as compensation of account of deficiency in service and harassment and Rs.5000/-(Rupees five thousand only) as litigation expenses to the complainant within one month from the date of decision, failing which opposite parties shall be liable to pay Rs.200/-(Rupees two hundred only) per week to the complainant from the date of decision till its realization to the complainant.
9. Copy of this order be supplied to both the parties free of costs. File be consigned to the record room after due compliance.
Announced in open court:
08.11.2021.
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Nagender Singh Kadian, President
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Tripti Pannu, Member.
