Orissa

Cuttak

CC/159/2019

Biranchi Narayan Mishra - Complainant(s)

Versus

Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd - Opp.Party(s)

B K Sinha

26 Apr 2023

ORDER

IN THE COURT OF THE DIST. CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION,CUTTACK.

C.C.No.159/2019

 

1.     Biranchi Narayan Mishra,

S/O:Late Chintamani Mishra,

At:Darkhapatna,P.O:Kalyaninagar,

P.S:Madhupatna,Dist:Cuttack-753013.

 

2.     Aliva Mishra,

W/O:Biranchi Narayan Mishra,

At:Darkhapatna,P.O:Kalyaninagar,

P.S:Madhupatna,Dist:Cuttack-753013 .   

 

3.     ChandrasnataMishra,

D/O:Biranchi Narayan Mishra, Minor

Represented through Father/Guardian complainant no.1.

 

4.     Ashok Kumar Sahoo,

S/O:LateChaturvuja Sahoo,

At:Khannagar,AthagariaSahi,

P.O:ArunodayaMarket,P.S:Badambadi,

Cuttack-753012.

 

5.     Smt. Soudamini Sahoo,

W/O:Ashok Kumar Sahoo,

At:Khannagar,HariaSahi,

P.O:ArunodayaMarket,P.S:Badambadi,

Cuttack-753012.

 

6.     Rashmita Sahoo,

D/O:Ashok Kumar Sahoo,

Represented through Father/Guardian.

 

7.     Santosh Swain,

S/O: Sri Baisnab Charan Swain,

At:CanalRoad,Kantilo Lane,

P.O:Nayabazar,Cuttack-753004.

 

 

8.     GayatreeBeuria,

W/O: Sri Santosh Swain,

At:CanalRoad,Kantilo Lane,

P.O:Nayabazar,Cuttack-753004.

 

9.     Sai Swasita Swain,

D/O: Sri Santosh Swain,

Represented through Father/Guardian.

10.     Sri Niranjan Bastia,

S/O:LateUdayanath Bastia,

At:Goutam Nagar,1^st Line,

P.O/P.S/Dist:Koraput-764020.

 

11.     LasyamayeePriyadarsini,

W/O:Sri Niranjan Bastia,

At:Goutam Nagar,1^st Line,

P.O/P.S/Dist:Koraput-764020.                  ... Complainants.

 

          Vrs.

 

1.         Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd.,

Represented through it’s Chairman-cum-Managing Director,

                  B-148,11^th Floor, Statesman House,Barakhamba Road

New Delhi-110001.

 

2.         Station Superintend, Cuttack Railway Station,

East Coast Railway,At:Cuttack Railway Station,

               PO-College Square,Dist-Cutttack

 

3.       Chief Commercial Manager,

East Coast Railway,RailBhawan,Chandrasekharpur,

   Bhubaneswar,Dist-Khordha

 

4.       Station Superindent,Vadodara Railway Station,

Western Railway Station,Vadodara,

              Gujurat

 

5.         Chief Commercial Manager, Western Railway,

                          Room no.215, 2^nd Floor,

                          Commercial Department, Churchgate,

                          Mumbai-400020.

 

6.         Station Manager,

                          Head at the Retiring Room,

                         Vododara Railway Station,

Western Railway,Vadodara,Gujarat.                                                ...Opp. Parties.

 

Present:            Sri Debasish Nayak,President.

                             Sri SibanandaMohanty,Member.

 

Date of filing:    25.11.2019

Date of Order:  26.04.2023

 

For the complainants:                  Mr. B.K.Sinha,Adv. & Associates.

For the O.P no.1  :None.

For the O.Ps no.2 to 6:                Mr. G.P.Mohanty,Adv. & Associates.

 

Sri Debasish Nayak,President

Case of the complainants as made out from the complaint petition in short is that they had preferred to undertake journey in order to visit Ahmedabad, Dwarka, Somnath&Vadodara with effect from 23.5.2019 to 2.6.2019 and had booked train tickets through the O.Ps alongwith reservation of retiring rooms at Vadodara Railway Station.  They had booked five number of deluxe retiring rooms at Vadodara Railway Station seeking reservation from 30.5.19 21.00 hours to 31.5.19 21.00 hours for which they had paid a sum of Rs.3700/- at Cuttack Railway Station.  But quite strangely when they arrived at Vadodara Railway Station on 30.5.19 and had approached the authorised persons regarding their booked retiring roomsand as allotted to them, they could know to their dismay that there was no such booking and thus they were refused to be given allotment of any of the retiring rooms.  They could know that their reservations were cancelled which was even not intimated to them though they were allotted rooms no.8 to 12 when they had paid the consideration amount of Rs.3700/- at Cuttack Railway Station for 21.00 hours of 30.5.19 upto 21.00 hours of 31.5.19. The Station Superintendent also expressed his helplessness and rather conveyed them that the retiring rooms were under renovation.   The complainants have urged that at no point of time they had cancelled their reservation of the said retiring rooms and for which they had paid the consideration amount and rather they blamed the O.Ps for being deficient in their service as because the complainant had paid them the consideration amount thereby intending to hire their services for providing them the desired accommodations.  As it was during the odd hours of night, the complainants had suffered physically and mentally and had to proceed out of the Railway Station at Vadodara by booking taxis and hiring hotel rooms for which they had to pay instant money as so demanded.  It is for this, the complainants have come up with this case seeking direction to the O.Ps in order to get return of their retiring room charges as paid by them to the tune of Rs.3700/-, alongwith compensation of Rs.2,55,000/-, a sum of Rs.1,50,000/- towards their mental agony and sufferings and further to meet their litigation expenses to the tune of Rs.35,000/-.

          Together with their complaint petition, the complainants have filed copies of their to and fro railway tickets alongwith copy of their grievance application as made by them to the CRS East Coast Railway,Cuttack on 11.2.19, copy of the money receipts showing payment of Rs.3700/- regarding reservation of the five number of deluxe retiring rooms at Vadodara Railway Station as narrated by them in their complaint petition, copy of the document reflecting about the denial of the retiring rooms to them as obtained from the Station Superintendent,Vadodara Railway Junction.

2.       Out of the six number of O.Ps as arrayed in this case, O.P no.1 has not contested this case for which O.P no.1 is set exparte but all the other O.Ps have jointly contested this case by filing their joint written version wherein they had mentioned that the retiring rooms at Vadodara Railway Station were handed over to IRCTC who is O.P no.1 in this case.  Thus, they all allege that it is the entire responsibility of O.P no.1 in the issue of this case.  They admit in their written version about the reservation of five number of deluxe retiring rooms at Vadodara Railway Station with effect from 21.00 hrs of 30.5.19 till21.00 hours of 31.5.19. But according to them, the said retiring rooms at Vadodara Railway Station were being renovated/upgraded and were being repaired also for which those rooms could not be provided to the complainants.  These O.Ps have further urged through their written version that the complainants had booked the said five number of deluxe retiring rooms at Vadodara Railway Station on 23.2.19 and not on 23.5.19.  They also admit about the online confirmation provided to the complainants as regards to their reservation of the said retiring rooms at Vadodara Railway Station but they urge in their written version that for providing better facilities for the public atlarge they had a bonafide intention in upgrading and renovating the said retiring rooms for which according to them, there was no deficiency in their service.  They have further urged in their written version that the complainants should have approached Vadodara Railway counter for getting refund of their money but they have not done so.  Thus, in toto as it appears that these O.Ps through their written version have prayed for dismissal of the complaint petition of the complainants with heavy cost for the ends of justice.

3.         Keeping in mind the averments as made in the complaint petition and the contents of the written version of the O.Ps together with the copies of documents as available in the case record, this Commission thinks it proper to settle the following issues in order to arrive at a proper conclusion here in this case.

i.          Whether the case of the complainant is maintainable?

ii.         Whether there was any deficiency in service on the part of the O.Ps ?

iii.        Whether the complainantsare entitled to the reliefs as claimed by them?

 

 

Issue no.ii.

Out of the three issues, issue no.ii  being the pertinent issue in this case, is taken up  first for consideration.

             After vivid perusal, scanning and probe, it is made out that infact the complainants had travelled upto Vadodara Railway Station where they had booked five number of deluxe retiring rooms with effect from 21.00 hours of 30.5.19 to21.00 hours of 31.5.19.  They had also paid the consideration amount of Rs.3700/- which is not in dispute.  The O.Ps have ofcourse dispute the date of reservation of the said retiring rooms and infact as per perusal of the copy of the reservation receipts as available in the case record, it goes to show that the said five number of deluxe retiring rooms at Vadodara Railway Station were booked by the complainants on 23.2.19 and not on 23.5.19 as so mentioned in the complaint petition.  Be that as it may, as it appears that there was a booking confirmation of the five number of deluxe retiring rooms at Vadodara Railway Station from 21.00 hours in the night of 30.5.19 upto 21.00 hours in the night of 31.5.19 as so made by the complainants who had paid the consideration amount and had got the booking reservation confirmed accordingly.  Fact remains that when the complainants arrived at Vadodara Railway Station and wanted their reserved retiring rooms, the Station Superintendent who was in-charge of the retiring rooms could not provide them so who had also mentioned the same as per Annexure-3.  The complainants in this context have urged that they had not cancelled their booking/reservation of the said five number of deluxe retiring rooms as booked by them.  In this connection, the O.Ps have stated through their written version that renovation/upgradation/repairing work was undertaken at that time of the said five number of retiring rooms with a bonafide intention to serve the public at large.  This explanation is ofcourse praiseworthy and is highly appreciated.  But. if at all there was any renovation/upgradation, repair work undertaken by the O.Ps, they were dutybound to intimate the said fact of cancellation of reservation of those five number of deluxe retiring rooms to the complainants at the earliest and should have returned the booking amount to them immediately so as to avoid inconvenience to the complainants and thereby should have given them ample opportunity to ekke-out their way for searching accommodation elsewhere.  When the O.Ps had provided them online confirmation, under no circumstances it would be appreciated that by keeping the complainants at dark till the zero hours of night of 30.5.19 the O.Ps  thereby making them face mental stress and agony by going outside of the Vadodara Railway Station with family and luggage and searching for accommodations which should have been definitely avoided by the O.Ps who are undoubtedly responsible persons.  Thus the eratic attitude of the O.Ps as noticed here in this case  tilts our eye brows and forces us to arrive at an irresistible conclusion that infact there is deficiency in service which is clearly visible on the face of the record and the  effort of the O.Ps to wriggle out from the arena of deficiency as found to have been utterly failed here in this case.  Accordingly, this issue goes against the O.Ps.

Issue no.i.

          Having paid the consideration amount and getting online booking confirmation for the intended retiring rooms, at the odd hours of the night when the complainants arrived with their family and luggage were quite disappointed when no room was provided to them and when the Station Superintendent also had expressed his helplessness in that matter.  They had to fetch their accommodations outside of the Vadodara Railway Station in that dead of night of 30.5.19 and had to pay for the accommodations as so demanded and also pay for the taxi fares and by filing this case, the case of the complainants is ofcourse maintainable.  This issue is accordingly answered in favour of the complainants.

Issue no.iii.

          From the above discussions, the complainants are indeed entitled to the reliefs as claimed by them.  Hence it is so ordered;

 

                                                          ORDER

          The case is decreed exparte against O.P no.1 and on contest against rest of the O.Ps of this case and all the O.Ps are found to be jointly and severally liable here in this case.  The O.Psare thus directed to return the complainants, the charge of Rs.3700/- as obtained from them towards the accommodations at the retiring rooms of Vadodara Railway Station. The O.Ps are further directed to pay a sum of Rs.4,00,000/-to the complainants  towards compensation for their mental agony and sufferings.  TheO.Ps are also directed to bear the litigation expenses of the complainants to the tune of Rs.35,000/-.  This order is to be carried out within a period of 30 days from the date of receipt of copy of this order.

Order pronounced in the open court on the 26^th day of April,2023 under the seal and signature of this Commission.  

 

                                                                                                Sri Debasish Nayak

                                                                                                                 President

 

 

 

                                                                                      Sri Sibananda Mohanty

                                                                                                   Member