DISTRICT CONSUEMR DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM PALAKKAD

Dated this the 25th day of February 2009 .

Present : Smt. H. Seena, President

: Smt. Preetha G. Nair, Member

: Smt. Bhanumathi.A.K, Member

C.C.No.19/2007

P.R. Somanathan

Padinjare veettil

Ayyappankavu

Kottayi

Palakkad. - Complainant

(Adv. R. Udayakumar)

V/s

The Secretary

Maharani Tourism

Booking Office

Raman & Raman

G.B. Road

Palakkad. - Opposite party

(Adv. P.Sreeprakash)

O R D E R

By Smt. Bhanumathi.A.K, Member

In short the complaint is as follows

The complainant booked a luxury bus with push back seat cooling glass to travel from Kottayi to Calicut for the marriage of his son. The fare was fixed as Rs.10,000/- and a sum of Rs.250/- fixed as drivers batta. A sum of Rs.500/- was paid as advance. Despite of the agreement, on the date of marriage the Opposite party sent a route carriage vehicle for the journey. It was not in good condition. The self motor is not functioning properly. Tyre condition was also bad. Opposite party displayed the board of the route bus. The deeds of the Opposite party caused mental agony to the complainant. So the complainant filed this complaint for seeking an order directing the Opposite party to pay an amount of Rs.25,000/- for mental agony along with cost of the case proceedings.

According to the Opposite party the complainant approached the Opposite party for booking a bus during peak shabarimala season. All contract carriage buses of all parties were almost booked. When the complainant expressed his pathetic situation the opposite party told the petitioner that he can arrange an ordinary bus. The name, number of the bus

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etc cannot be given at that stage. That is why the vehicle number, seating capacity etc are blank and the type of vehicle was shown as bus instead of luxury bus etc. Maharani Tourism has no tinted glass fitted push back seated bus at all. The other contention is that there is a specific condition in the order booking form that the entire balance must be paid 24 hours before the journey. Complainant failed to perform his part of the contract.

Complainant filed affidavit along with documents. Exhibit A1 to A4 marked on the side of the complainant. Opposite party filed version and affidavit. No documents are marked on the part of Opposite party.

The issues for consideration are:

1. Whether there is any deficiency of service on the part of Opposite party ? and

2. if so, what is the relief and cost?

Issues 1 & 2

The main contention of the Opposite party is that Maharani Tourism has no push back seated bus. The receipt issued by the Opposite party which is produced by the complainant as Exhibit A1, shows that Maharani Tourism is recognised by the Government of Kerala Tourism under the Registration No of LAPT 1/95. So the contention of the Opposite party seems to be unacceptable. The endorsement on the backside of the receipt (Ext A1) shows that the complainant booked tourist bus. Opposite party has not raised any dispute regarding the same. Another contention of the Opposite party is that the complainant failed to perform the condition in the order booking form. So that he cannot claim damages. As per the conditions in the receipt the complainant has to pay the amount before the journey starts and hence the Opposite party has no liability to send the vehicle. It is one among the conditions in the receipt. The 1^st conditions in the receipt is that 1/3 amount of fare has to be deposited in advance. From Exhibit A1, it can be seen that the Opposite party has collected only Rs.500/- as advance. Thus the Opposite party themselves has violated the conditions in the receipt. The Opposite party has stated that as the complainant has not performed his part, Opposite party has no obligation to perform his

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part. If that be the case, it is not understood why the Opposite party has performed his part deviating from the terms as agreed between the parties.

From the above discussions, we are of the view that there is deficiency of service on the part of opposite party.

In the result complaint is allowed. The opposite party is directed to pay an amount of Rs.10,000/- as compensation for mental agony and Rs.1000/- as cost.

PRESIDENT (SD)

MEMBER (SD)

MEMBER (SD)

APPENDIX

Exhibits marked on the side of complainant

1. Ext. A1 - Receipt issued by Opposite party

2. Ext A1 (a) – Endorsement on the backside of receipt regarding (advance paid)

3. Ext A2 – Marriage invitation

4. Ext A3 – Copy of Lawyer notice

5. Ext A 4 – Reply notice.

Forwarded/By Order

Senior Superintendent