DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION

WEST TRIPURA :  AGARTALA

 

 

CASE   NO:   CC- 57 of 2019

 

 

Sri Gopal Debnath,

S/O.Sri Nilmohan Debnath,

Resident of Gangail Road, Eastern Lane of Master Para,

P.O.-Agartala, P.S.-East Agartala, PIN-799001,

Dist.-West Tripura, Agartala….......................................................................Complainant.

 

 

 

       -VERSUS-

 

 

1. The Director,

Cox & Kings Limited,

Turner Morrison Building,

16 Bank Street,

Fort – Mumbai-400001. 

 

2. The Manager,

Cox & Kinds Agartala,

11 Harish Thakur Road,

Krishnanagar, Near Magnet Club,

Agartala, PS-West Agartala,

Dist.-West Tripura, Pin-799001................................................................. Opposite Parties.

 

 

 

     __________PRESENT__________

 

 SRI RUHIDAS  PAL

PRESIDENT,

  DISTRICT CONSUMER  

DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION,

      WEST TRIPURA, AGARTALA. 

 

 

 

DR (SMT) BINDU PAL

MEMBER,

  DISTRICT CONSUMER 

DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION, 

  WEST TRIPURA,  AGARTALA.

 

 

C O U N S E L

 

 

For the Complainant : Mr. Baskar Deb,

  Mr. Saikat Rahaman,

  Mr. Sankar Lal Chakraborty,

  Advocates.

 

For the O.P. Nos.1&2 : Mr. Sourabh Mukherjee,

  Advocate. 

 

JUDGMENT  DELIVERED  ON : 18/11/2020.

 

J U D G M E N T

          The Complainant Sri Gopal Debnath, set the law in motion by presenting the complaint petition U/S 12 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986  complaining negligence & deficiency of service by the O.Ps. Cox & Kings Limited. 

The Complainant's case, in brief, is that the Complainant is a peace loving citizen of this State and he booked his U.K. Tour namely, 'Highlights of U.K. Summer, 2019 for 5 days 4 nights through the O.P. No.2.  The Complainant was supposed to perform his journey from 24/05/2019. Initially the Complainant paid Rs.15,000/- on 21/12/2018 and subsequently, on 13/03/2019 and 13/05/2019 paid Rs.1,37,500/- and Rs.1,26,000/- respectively to the O.Ps. i.e. in total Rs.2,78,500/-(Rupees Two Lac Seventy Eight Thousand Five Hundred) for his wife, minor son and himself. Unfortunately the Complainant suddenly fell ill and he was admitted at Agartala ILS Hospital from 08/05/2019 to 10/05/2019. Thereafter, he was shifted to Kolkata for better treatment and he had undergone an operation at Kolkata nursing home. The Complainant informed everything to the O.P. No.2 and O.P. No.2 also communicated everything to the O.P. No.1. On 14/05/2019 the O.P. No.2 informed the entire matter to the O.P. No.1 through email. On 17/05/2019 the O.P. No.2 again requested the O.P. No.1 to consider the case of the Complainant as a special and to consider the normal cancellation charges. But on 20/05/2019 the O.P. No.1 reply back stating that they cannot do anything in this regard. On 24/05/2019 the wife of the Complainant sent an Email to the O.P. No.2 asking about the reason of charging Rs.70,000/- as cancellation per person but no satisfactory reply is given by the O.P. No.2. For the sudden illness of the Complainant, he requested to the O.P. No.2 to reschedule journey but till date there is no satisfactory responce of the O.Ps. On 08/06/2019 the Complainant went to the office of the O.P. No.2 and then the O.P. No.2 informed that they cannot reschedule journey and out of Rs.2,78,500/-, they refunded him only Rs.26,500/-. Thereafter, the Complainant asked the O.P. No.2 to give him complete details along with proper documents that for what purpose the O.Ps. have deducted huge amount from the booking amount though the Complainant never informed the O.Ps. for cancellation of his scheduled journey but the O.P. No.2 expressed their inability to supply any information. Since the O.Ps. failed to supply details of cancellation charges, the Complainant sent one Legal Notice on 11/06/2019 to the O.P. Nos.1&2. They also sent 2(two) reply letter to the Legal Counsel of the Complainant stating that they are enquiring into the matter and they will revert back at the earliest but till date there is nothing from the end of the O.Ps.    

So, being aggrieved and dissatisfied with the conduct of the O.Ps.,  the Complainant alleging deficiency of service has filed the instant complaint before this Commission claiming Rs.3,78,500/-(Rs.2,78,500/- + Rs.1,00,000/-)  as deficiency of service and as compensation for causing harassment, mental agony  costs from the O.Ps.  

2. On admission of the complaint notices were issued upon the O.Ps. and both the O.Ps. have appeared by engaging their Lawyer and prayed for time to file Written Objection / Written Version and time was allowed. But within the statutory period written objection / written version could not be filed by the O.Ps. Thereafter, the O.Ps. remained absent and accordingly the case was proceeded exparte vide order dated 05/11/2019. 

EVIDENCE ADDUCED BY THE COMPLAINANT:-

3. Complainant has examined himself as PW-I and he has submitted his examination-in-Chief by way of Affidavit. In this case the complainant produced 6 documents comprising 16 sheets under a Firisti dated 07/08/2019. The documents are namely Photocopy of Bills / Receipts, Photocopy of discharge summery, Photos of Complainant, Email conversation between the O.Ps., Email conversation between the Complainant & O.P. No.1 and Notice & Replies. On identification the  documents are marked as Exhibit-I series. The Complainant was  examined by the court as it is an ex-parte proceedings.

POINTS TO BE DETERMINED:-

    Based on the contentions raised by the Complainant in the pleadings and having regard to the evidence adduced by the complainant, the following points are cropped up for determination:

        (I) Whether there is any deficiency of service on the part of the O.Ps. towards the Complainant and have also indulged in unfair trade practices?

(II) Whether the complainant is entitled to get  any compensation/relief as prayed for?

5. DECISION AND REASONS FOR DECISION:

  We have heard arguments of Learned Counsel of the Complainant. 

          Learned Advocate for the Complainant submitted that within the statutory period written objection / written version was not filed by the O.Ps. Thereafter, the O.Ps. remained absent and accordingly the case was proceeded exparte vide order dated 05/11/2019 and court can presume about the truthfulness of the Complainants case. Moreover, exhibited documents also supports the claim of the complainant. The Complainant was cheated by the O.Ps. and the conduct of the O.Ps. amounts to unfair trade practice. So, the Complainant is entitled to get suitable compensation from the O.Ps.                            

               On perusal of the documentary evidence, we found that the Complainant booked for U.K. Tour namely, 'Highlights of U.K. Summer, 2019 for 5 days 4 nights through the Agartala office of Cox & Kings Ltd. i.e. O.P. No.2 and the Complainant in total made the payment of Rs.2,78,500/-(Rupees Two Lac Seventy Eight Thousand Five Hundred) and he was supposed to perform his journey from 24/5/2019 along with his wife and minor son. But unfortunately, he fell ill and he was admitted in the ILS, Hospital on 08/5/2019 to 10/5/2019. Thereafter, he was shifted to Kolkata at Sanjibani Nursing Home and he had undergone an operation. It is also found that the O.P. No.2 was informed everything and also photographs were sent to them. From the evidence of the Complainant, it is also found that the O.P. No.2 requested the O.P. No.1 for giving the Complainant waiver on normal cancellation charges but on 20/5/2019 the O.P. No.1 replied back stating that they cannot do anything in this regard. From the evidence it is found that on 24/5/2019 the wife of the Complainant sent an Email to the O.P. No.2 asking them the purpose and reasons of charging Rs.70,000/- as cancellation per person. From the evidence we found that the O.Ps. refunded only Rs.26,500/- and the O.Ps. did not furnish the details of cancellation charges. 

          At the time of argument when Learned Counsel of the Complainant was asked to show the provision or the agreement / contract in respect of cancellation charges or terms of cancellation, Learned Counsel failed to show any papers about the agreement contract. From the exhibited documents namely reply of notice dated 10/06/2019 by the O.P. No.1, Dated 11/06/2019 we found that the O.P. No.1 in reply informed the Lawyer of the Complainant that they are conducting the necessary enquiry from their concerned department and they shall revert to the Advocate of the Complainant. But thereafter no communication have been made according to the Complainant. The above documentary evidence clearly shows that the conduct of the O.Ps. amounts to deficiency of service.      

            From the exhibited documents namely the Email sent from Sanjib Kumar Banerjee dated 25/05/2019 addressed to Mr. Debnath, it is found that the O.P. No.1 by that Email informed the Complainant about the cancellation charges and they mentioned that cancellation charges are there in everything like Airlines ticket and cancellation charges are there in every item. On appreciation of the evidence of the Complainant, we found that the Complainant supposed to avail (Foreign Tour) his journey on 24/5/2019 and he became ill soon before the date of journey and requested reschedule of the journey. So that is why the tour programme was cancelled by the O.Ps. In this regard, we cannot say that there is/was any fault on the part of the O.Ps. as because it was not possible on the part of the Complainant to avail the journey on the date fixed as major operation of the Complainant was done at Kolkata and also he was not fit for availing journey. But we find that there was deficiency of service on the part of the O.Ps. in respect of  not furnishing the details about the cancellation charges. 

6.          So, we are in the opinion that the Complainant has been able to prove his case U/S. 12 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 in respect of deficiency of service by the O.Ps. for not providing details of cancellation charges.       

     Hence, the Complainant is entitled to get compensation of Rs.10,000/- for causing deficiency in service in respect of failure of furnishing details of the cancellation charges. The Complainant is also entitled to get litigation costs of Rs.5,000/-.

Therefore in total the Complainant is entitled to get Rs.15,000/-(Rs.10,000/- + Rs.5,000/-) only. Both the O.Ps. are directed to make the payment either jointly or severely to the Complainant within a period of 2 months from the date of this judgment and if the O.Ps. fail to comply the order in that case it will carry interest @ 9% P.A. till the payment is made in full with effect from the date of judgment.  

Accordingly, the Complaint is partly allowed. The Complainant is directed to sent a certified copy of the judgment to the address of the O.Ps. by registered post within 7 days after receiving it for information of the O.Ps. and also for compliance. 

 

 

    Announced.

 

SRI  RUHIDAS  PAL

PRESIDENT,

DISTRICT CONSUMER  DISPUTES 

REDRESSAL COMMISSION,

WEST TRIPURA,  AGARTALA

 

 

 

 

 

  DR (SMT)  BINDU  PAL

 MEMBER, 

DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES 

REDRESSAL COMMISSION, 

WEST TRIPURA, AGARTALA