BEFORE THE DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES

REDRESSAL COMMISSION, JALANDHAR.

Complaint No.318 of 2023

      Date of Instt. 11.08.2023

      Date of Decision: 27.02.2024

Gurpreet Singh Bedi aged 35 years son of Sh. Inderjit Singh resident of 91-DC Nagar, Cantt Road, Near Mithapur, Jalandhar.

..........Complainant

Versus

1.       Mr. Sahir Khan, Customer Relations Interglobe Aviation Limited      (IndiGo), Level 3 Tower C Global Business Park, M. G. Road,        Gurugram, Haryana 122022.

2.       M/s Interglobe Aviation Limited (IndiGo), Level 3 Tower C    Global Business Park, M. G. Road, Gurugram, Haryana 122022.

….….. Opposite Parties

Complaint Under the Consumer Protection Act.

Before:        Dr. Harveen Bhardwaj             (President)

                   Sh. Jaswant Singh Dhillon       (Member)   

Present:       Sh. Paramjit Uttam, Adv. Counsel for Complainant.

                    OPs exparte.

Order

Dr. Harveen Bhardwaj (President)

1.                The instant complaint has been filed by the complainants, wherein it is alleged that the complainant and his wife had come from Goa to Mumbai and then from Mumbai to Chandigarh on 22.01.2023 through OP’s airlines and the complainant and his wife had their luggage with them. While collecting their luggage on return, the complainant and his wife noticed that one of their bag was not there in the luggage and the complainant and his wife tried their level best to trace out with the help of the authorities but all in vain. Ultimately as per rules Property Irregularity Report (PIR) form was filled by the complainant and submitted the same to OP No.1. The said Bag of the complainant was having one wrist watch Titan, cash amount of Rs.4000/-, documents i.e. PAN Card, Driving license, Aadhar Card, R.C. of Car No.PB08-EX-1756, ATM Card of SBI, IDFC EMI card. Due to missing of the said bag, the complainant and his wife are suffering harassment and mental agony as the documents mentioned above are very much necessary, required by the complainant for his daily use. The complainant has also made a complaint through email which was replied by OP No.1 by mentioning the condition of carriage as domestic whereas no domestic articles was lying in the said bag rather personal articles and identity proofs and bank related cards were lying in the bag. OP No.1 wrongly and baselessly offered compensation to the complainant to the tune of Rs.1050/- (Rs.350/- per kg) as cost of loss incurred by client, which was denied by the complainant clearly. The OPs failed to locate the said missing bag of the complainant and the complainant has been requesting you continuously but no reply has been received. The complainant is very much harassed, humiliated and given mental agony, and physical harassment on the part of OPs by not tracing out the same, as such both the OPs are jointly and severely responsible for all the acts and conduct of each other and accordingly, a legal notice was served upon the OPs on 23.02.2023, but all in vain and as such, necessity arose to file the present complaint with the prayer that the complaint of the complainant may be accepted and OPs be directed to pay a compensation of Rs.34,000/- towards the missing of bag including cash and costly belongings alongwith interest @ 24% per annum from the date of missing of bag till the date of actual realization of the amount. Further, OPs be directed to pay a compensation of Rs.10,00,000/- for causing mental tension and harassment to the complainant and Rs.50,000/- as litigation expenses and any other relief which this Commission may deem fit also be granted.

2.                Notice of the complaint was sent to the OPs, but despite service both the OPs were failed to appear and ultimately both the OPs were proceeded against exparte.

3.                In order to prove his respective version, the counsel for the complainant has produced on the file his respective evidence.

4.                We have heard the learned counsel for the complainant and have also gone through the case file very minutely.

5.                The complainant has alleged that he had come from Goa to Mumbai and then from Mumbai to Chandigarh on 22.01.2023 through the Airline of OP. He has proved on record the boarding pass which show that on 22.01.2023, he travelled from Goa to Mumbai and then from Mumbai to Chandigarh. The boarding passes have been proved as Ex.C-3 and Ex.C-4. But when they went to collect their luggage on return, they found their bag missing in the luggage and they submitted the PIR Form Ex.C-5, wherein they have mentioned the detail of the bag of 3KG. The photograph of the bag has been proved as Ex.C-6. As per the reply given by the OP vide email Ex.C-7, the OPs have regretted the inconvenience caused to the complainant for the loss of the bag, but they offered Rs.1050/- for the lost bag as per the alleged conditions of carriage of IndiGo, but no such conditions are there nor these conditions were ever sent to the complainant to inform the detail how the liability of the OP is limited to INR 350 per KG for domestic flights. The complainant has alleged that in the bag, he was having one wrist watch Titan, cash amount of Rs.4000/-, PAN Card, Driving license, Aadhar Card, R.C. of Car No.PB08-EX-1756, ATM Card of State Bank of India and IDFC EMI card. All these documents are important documents though the flight was domestic, but the loss of these documents cannot be taken lightly as it takes a long time to process for getting the duplicate documents. The bank card of the complainant and RC, driving license etc. are very important documents and loss has been due to the negligence of the OPs and thus, the complainant is entitled for the relief.

6.                In view of the above detailed discussion, the complaint of the complainant is partly allowed and OPs are directed to pay Rs.15,000/- towards the missing of bag of the complainant including cash and costly belongings alongwith interest @ 6% per annum from the date of missing bag till its realization. Further OPs are directed to pay a compensation of Rs.10,000/- to the complainant for causing mental tension and harassment and Rs.5000/- as litigation expenses. The entire compliance be made within 45 days from the date of receipt of the copy of order. This complaint could not be decided within stipulated time frame due to rush of work.  

7.                Copies of the order be supplied to the parties free of cost, as per Rules. File be indexed and consigned to the record room.

Dated                             Jaswant Singh Dhillon           Dr. Harveen Bhardwaj     

27.02.2024                          Member                                  President