Haryana

Panchkula

CC/227/2015

SUDHIR MITTAL . - Complainant(s)

Versus

SPICE JET LIMITED. - Opp.Party(s)

ABHIMANU ANTIL

08 Jan 2016

ORDER

BEFORE THE DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM,  PANCHKULA.                                                            

Consumer Complaint No	:	227 of 2015
Date of Institution	:	15.10.2015
Date of Decision	:	08.01.2016

                                                                                          

Sudhir Mittal, Advocate s/o Sh.R.S.Mittal, Senior Advocate, R/o House No.475, Sector-6, Panchkula.

                                                                                 ….Complainant

Versus

Spice Jet Limited, Corporate Office at 319, Udyog Vihar, Gurgaon, Phase-4, Gurgaon-122016 through its Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer.

 

                                                                   …. Opposite party

 

COMPLAINT UNDER SEC. 12 OF THE CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT, 1986.

 

Before:                 Mr.Dharam Pal, President.

Mrs. Anita Kapoor, Member.

Mr.S.P.Attri, Member.

                            

For the Parties:     Mr.Abhimanyu Antil, Adv., for the complainant.

OP already exparte.

ORDER

(Anita Kapoor, Member)

1. The complainant-Sudhir Mittal has filed this complaint against the OP with the averments that on 23.05.2015, he booked a return ticket from Chandigarh to Srinagar and back through the web portal of Make My Trip. The booking was done on flights operated by the OP. The journey was booked for 04.06.2015 in the name of complainant’s son-Dhananjay Mittal & his four friends and the return journey was wrongly booked for 14.07.2015 (Annexure C-1) for Rs.33,790/-. The payment has been made through the credit card of the complainant (Annexure C-3) which was thereafter replaced by a new credit card (Annexure C-5) and the statement of new credit card is also annexed as Annexure C-6. The payment of Rs.2608/- was paid in cash for Make My Trip by the complainant (Annexure C-7). The son of the complainant and his friends boarded the Chandigarh to Srinagar flight on 04.06.2015 and they were scheduled to return on 14.06.2015 but the return booking had been erroneously made for 14.07.2015 which was came to knowledge on 14.06.2015 when the complainant’s son & his friends reached at Srinagar Airport and they have to return by road. Therefore, on 14.06.2015, the complainant requested the OP for partial cancellation on the web portal of Make My Trip and the same informed him that his request would be processed within 48 hours but nothing was done by the Op till 17.06.2015. Thereafter, the complainant made another request on email on 17.06.2015 and on the same day, the complainant received an email from Make My Trip. On 18.06.2015, the complainant another email received from Make My Trip (Annexure C-10) and was also informed that OP had not permitted cancellation, therefore, contact should be made directly with the airline. The complainant again requested that the fare was refundable and therefore, there was no justification in refusing the refund on cancellation. On this, the complainant received a reply that the Op was not permitting cancellation as the round trip fare was a special fare but on e-ticket did not reflect that the fare was a special fare and cancellation could not be made. This act of the opposite party amounts to deficiency in service on his part. Hence, this complaint.
2. Notice was issued to the OP through registered post and the same has not been received back served or unserved. It is deemed to be served and the OP was proceeded against ex-parte vide order dated 26.11.2015.
3. The complainant has tendered the evidence by way of affidavit Annexure C-A alongwith documents Annexure C-1 to C-12 and closed the evidence.
4. We have heard learned counsel for the complainant and have also perused the record.
5. Admittedly, on 23.05.2015, the complainant booked return tickets from Chandigarh to Srinagar and back through the web portal of Make My Trip for 04.06.2015 in the name of complainant’s son-Dhananjay Mittal & his four friends for Rs.33,790/- and the return journey was on 14.06.2015 but the same wrongly booked for 14.07.2015 (Annexure C-1) which came to the notice on 14.06.2015 when the son of the complainant and his friends reached at Srinagar Airport and they had to return by road. Therefore, on 14.06.2015, the complainant requested the OP for partial cancellation on the web portal of Make My Trip and the same informed him that his request would be processed within 48 hours but nothing was done by the Op till 17.06.2015. Thereafter, the complainant made another request on email on 17.06.2015. On 18.06.2015, the complainant received an email from Make My Trip (Annexure C-10) and he was informed that OP had not permitted cancellation, therefore, contact should be made directly with the airline. The complainant again requested the OP that the fare was refundable. On this, the complainant received a reply that the Op was not permitting cancellation as the round trip fare was a special fare but on e-ticket did not reflect that the fare was a special fare and cancellation could not be made. The complainant has also filed his duly sworn affidavit (Annexure C-A).
6. The OP did not enter appearance to contest the claim. A notice, by Registered Post, was forwarded to the OP at its correct address. However, it was not received, served or un-served, even after a period of one month was over. That entitles the Forum to draw an inference that the OP had been duly served and it opted to refrain from entering appearance to contest the claim made by the complainant.
7. We are, nonetheless, cognizant of the fact that the complainant has to make out a case for acceptance before the Forum grants relief to him, even in the ex-parte facet.
8. We have heard the Learned Counsel for the complainant and have gone through the record.
9. The relevant booking for the tickets had been, on the own showing of the complainant in the complaint, made on-line. The complainant is a resident of Panchkula (as is apparent from the address given by him in the complaint) and the web-portal utilized for booking was accessed from his residence at Panchkula. For the detailed reasoning recorded in M.D. Air Deccan and Ors. Vs. Ram Gopal Aggarwal (2014 (1) CLT 179 upon which we rely, this Forum at Panchkula has the jurisdiction to try the complaint. It is particularly so when the relevant averments made by the complainant in Para No.1& 2 of the complaint have not been controverted by the OP which, as already recorded, opted to refrain from entering appearance to contest the claim made by the complainant.
10. It is apparent from the complaint that the refund of permissible amount of cancellation was refused by the OP on the premise that it being a special fare ticket, no refund thereupon was permissible. The precise averment made by the complainant is that it was indeed not a special fare ticket and further that, instead thereof, there was an endorsement on the ticket itself that refund was permissible. It is particularly to be noted that there is no challenge either to the affidavit supported averment that the cancellation of ticket had been applied for one month before the date of travel. The relevant affidavit-supported averments made by the complainant on other points as well have not been controverted by the OP. Further, those averments are supported by the contents of the documentation produced by the complainant. We have, thus, no reasons to differ with the complainant. We would, accordingly, hold that the averred premise of refusal to refund was unacceptable, particularly when the contents of the tickets themselves validate the refund of a cancelled ticket.
11. While, thus, granting the plea made by the complainant that there was deficiency in service on the part of the OP, we would allow the complaint and order that: -

      a)     The OP shall refund a sum of Rs.16,895/-i.e. 50% of the booking amount relatable to the cancelled ticket;

                    b)     The OP shall pay a sum of Rs.10,000/- as compensation for the deficiency in service including the mental agony and harassment caused to the complainant; and

      c)     The OP shall also pay a sum of Rs.5,000/- to the complainant as the cost of litigation.

 

12. The OP shall comply with this order within a period of one month from the date its communication to it comes about.A copy of this order shall be forwarded, free of cost, to the parties to the complaint.

 

Announced

08.01.2016       S.P.ATTRI          ANITA KAPOOR        DHARAM PAL

                         MEMBER          MEMBER                      PRESIDENT

 

Note: Each and every page of this order has been duly signed by me.

 

                                 

 

                                                         ANITA KAPOOR

                                                          MEMBER