DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM,
PATIALA.
Consumer Complaint No. 473 of 25.11.2016
Decided on: 15.6.2017
Er.Sarabjit Singh, resident of #40, Dashmesh Nagar, New Police Line, Tripuri, Patiala. Mobile No.96461-19395, 96461-19412.
…………...Complainant
Versus
1. Spicejet Ltd.319, Udyog Vihar Gurgaon-122016, Haryana.
2. Yatra.com, 1st Floor, Tower 8, Unitech Cyber Park, Sec.39,Gurgaon,122002,
Haryana.
…………Opposite Parties
Complaint under Section 12 of the
Consumer Protection Act, 1986.
QUORUM
Smt. Neena Sandhu, President
Smt. Neelam Gupta, Member
ARGUED BY:
Sh.Sarabjit Singh, complainant in person.
Opposite Parties No.1&2 ex-parte.
ORDER
SMT.NEENA SANDHU,PRESIDENT
Sh.Sarabjit Singh, complainant has filed this complaint under Section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act,1986( hereinafter referred to as the Act) against the Opposite Parties (hereinafter referred to as the O.Ps.) .
2. In brief, the case of the complainant is that he booked a ticket with Yatra .com for his daughter in the name of Jasleen Kaur, to travel on 26.8.2016, to fly with Spicejet airline. However, the Ops booked the ticket in the name of Japneet Kaur, instead of booking the same in the name of Jasleen Kaur. He made a request for change in the name of the passenger and also sent the identity document of his daughter in the shape of pan card, BDS registration certificate from medical council and rectified itinerary of Jasleen Kaur. OP no.2 made an apology for the said error and forwarded his complaint to Spicejet, OP no.1, who got ready to change her name. It is averred that OP no.1 took one month time in issuing the fresh ticket with the correct name of his daughter. He, in the meantime booked the ticket with Indigo airline, for a sum of Rs.2437/- for her daughter, for 24.10.2016. Due to this act of the OPs, the complainant has not only under gone mental agony and physical harassment but has also suffered from financial loss. Hence this complaint, with a prayer for a direction to the Ops to refund the fare charges and also to compensate him by paying 50 times of the base amount of onward journey.
3. On being put to notice, OP no.1 appeared and filed the written version whereas OP no.2 despite service failed to come present and was accordingly proceeded against exparte.
4. In the written version filed by Op no.1, it has taken preliminary objections that the complaint is not maintainable as the complainant Sarabjit Singh has no privity of contract with the OP, stating that no ticket in the name of Sarabjit Singh was ever purchased or availed any services of the OP and that this Forum has no territorial jurisdiction to entertain and try the present complaint, stating that the tickets were from Ahemdabad to Delhi and the office of the OP is in Gurgaon. On merits, it is stated that the passenger made the booking from Yatra.com, online by the name of Ms.Japneet Kaur and sent an e-mail to the OP with the request that the name of the passenger is required to be changed as Ms.Jasleen Kaur. It is stated that as per the policy and categorical terms and conditions of carriage, the name change requests, in case of confirmed tickets, were not entertained and accordingly, the passenger was communicated. However, on continuous follow ups and requests from the side of the passenger and also on receipt of the ID proof of passenger with the ticket copy of Indigo Flight, wherein the name mentioned was Ms.Jasleen Kaur, the name was corrected by the OP and the passenger has travelled to her destination by availing the services of the OP.It is further stated that the ticket was not booked by the passenger directly, with it, but the same was booked through Yatra.com. There is no deficiency of service on the part of the OP. After denying all other averments made in the complaint, it is prayed to dismiss the complaint.
5. On being called to do so, the complainant tendered in evidence his own affidavit, Ex.CA alongwith documents Exs.C1 to C31 and closed the evidence.
Here, it is stated that after filing written version by OP no.1 none has come present to contest the case on its behalf . Accordingly OP no.1 was also proceeded against ex-parte vide order dated 20.4.2017.
6. We have heard the complainant and also gone through the record of the case, carefully.
7. Complainant has submitted that he booked a air ticket through OP no.2 with OP no.1 i.e. Spicejet Airlines for his daughter, Jasleen Kaur, to fly from Ahemdabad to Delhi on 25.10.2016 and also booked a returned ticket with Indigo Airlines for 1.11.2016 from Delhi to Ahemdabad. Due to wrong information given by OP no.2, the name of his daughter was wrongly written as Japneet Kaur instead of Jasleen Kaur. He immediately, after the receipt of the tickets, requested OP no.2 and concerned Airlines to correct the name of his daughter, on the said tickets and also submitted the requisite documents for this purpose. The Indigo Airlines did the correction without any hassle but the Spicejet airlines earlier refused to make the correction in the name of his daughter but after the intervention of the Hon’ble National Commission, it issued the fresh ticket with the correct name of his daughter, very late. In the meantime, he purchased an another ticket for his daughter to fly from Ahemdabad to Delhi on 24.10.2016, by paying an amount of Rs.2437/-. Had OP no.1 issued the fresh ticket with correct name, well in time then there was no occasion for him to buy another ticket for his daughter for 24.10.2016 from Indigo airlines to fly from Ahemdabad to Delhi. He prayed that the Ops may be directed to refund the amount spent by him. They may also be directed to pay compensation for the mental agony and physical harassment suffered by him.
8. It may be stated that Op no.1 has filed the written version on 27.2.2017 and due to non appearance it was proceeded against exparte, vide order dated 20.4.2017. In the written statement filed by OP no.1, it has taken preliminary objections that the present complaint is not maintainable as the complainant has no privity of contract with the answering OP and also that this Forum has no territorial jurisdiction to entertain and try the present complaint. To this effect, the complainant has submitted that he being the father of Jasleen Kaur had booked online tickets for her with OP no.1 through OP no.2 at Patiala. All the correspondence with them has been done by him, only. Thus, he is a consumer qua the Ops and the present complaint is maintainable before this Forum. From the record it is borne out that Sh.Sarabjeet Singh, is the father of Jasleen Kaur and by booking the online air tickets for his daughter with the Ops, at Patiala had availed the services of the Ops. Thus, he is the consumer qua the OPs and this Forum has the territorial jurisdiction to entertain and try the complaint.
9. From the perusal of air ticket, Ex.C2, it is evident that Spicejet had issued a ticket in favour of Jasleen Kaur to fly from Ahemdabad to Delhi on 25 Oct.2016. The plea of the complainant is that since there was delay in issuance of the fresh ticket with the correct name of his daughter by Op no.1, as such he purchased another ticket for her daughter to fly from Ahemdabad to Delhi on 24.102016 from Indigo air lines by paying an amount of Rs.2437/-. In the written version filed by OP no.1, it is categorically stated that the request of the passenger for change of name was accepted and she had already travelled to her destination on the said ticket. It may be stated that the complainant has neither clarified in his complaint nor has placed on record any document in the shape of ticket or boarding card to establish that infact her daughter namely Jasleen Kaur had travelled on 24.10.2016 with the Indigo airlines from Ahemdabad to Delhi and had not availed the fresh ticket dated 25.10.2016 issued by Spicejet airlines. Facing with this situation, we do not find any merit in the complaint. Accordingly, we dismiss the same without any order as to costs. Certified copies of the order be sent to the parties free of cost under the Rules. Thereafter, file be indexed and consigned to the Record Room.
ANNOUNCED
DATED:15.6.2017
NEENA SANDHU
PRESIDENT
NEELAM GUPTA
MEMBER
