Motilal Jhalani,

Flat no. 302, 3^rd floor,

Radha Krishna Apartment, near Hans Khali Pul,

opposite – Amar Jyoti Apartment, Bakultolla,

District –Howrah,

PIN – 711109.-------------------------------------------------------------------  COMPLAINANT.

-          Versus   -

The Station Master,

Kolkata Railway Station,

R.C. Sadhukhan Road, Belgachi,

Kolkata – 700037. ------------------------------------------------------------OPPOSITE PARTY.

                                                P   R    E     S    E    N     T

President     :     Shri T.K. Bhattacharya, M.A. LL.B. WBHJS.

Member      :      Shri P.K. Chatterjee.

Member       :     Smt. Jhumki Saha.

                                                 F  I   N   A    L       O   R   D    E     R

1.                  Complainant, Motilal Jhalani,  by filing a petition U/S 12 of the C .P. Act,

1986 ( as amended up to date ) has prayed for a direction to be given upon the o.p. to pay an amount of Rs. 95,000/- as compensation for causing mental agony along with litigation costs and other reliefs as the Forum may deem fit and proper.   

2.                  Brief facts of the case is that complainant with his wife were travelling by train

no. 12320 PNR no. 2248212112 on 04-07-2013 from Mathura to Kolkata Station in Coach no. S-6 having Berth nos. 1 & 4. It is alleged by him that there was no water in the toilets nearby those berths. The visiting TTE was informed about the same. But nothing was done on behalf of the railway. Again, the same was informed to another TTE, namely, Mr. Mohd. Israil / Mohd. Ismail at Naini Station on 05-07-2013. But the problem remained same. Further, the tube lights between berth nos. 1 to 8 were out of order. The same experience was shared by the other passengers, too vide, Annexure ‘A’. The journey became a painful one in absence of water, unto Mughal Sarai Station, and in absence of light in the night. It is also alleged by the complainant that he was bound to pay prices more than their M.R.P. when he bought one bottle of drinking water for Rs. 17/- instead of Rs. 15/- at Mughal Sarai Station platform. Again on platform no. 3 at Gaya Station, he was compelled to pay Rs. 20/- for one packet of puri sabji instead of M.R.P. Rs. 15/-. According to him, it is the duty of the Railway Officer especially, Station Managers, to check the prices of the articles which are being sold on the platform in different stalls but they did not perform their duties and the passengers are being harassed by the arbitrary action and attitude of the stall-owners. So, alleging deficiency in providing service, complainant has filed this instant petition praying for aforesaid reliefs.

3.                  Notice was served. O.p. appeared and filed written version. Accordingly, case

heard on contest.

4.                  Upon pleadings of both parties two points arose for determination :

i)          Is there any deficiency in service on the part of the O.P.  ?

ii)                  Whether the complainant is  entitled to get any relief as prayed for ? 

DECISION  WITH   REASONS      :

5.                  Both the points are  taken up together for consideration.            It is the specific plea

of O.P. that as the entire incident took place out of the jurisdiction of Eastern Railway, O.P. has nothing to do towards the redressal of the grievance of the complainant and also O.P. has challenged the maintainability of instant petition before this ld. Forum. And the entire issue falls under the jurisdiction of North Central and East Central Division of Indian  Railway. So, according to O.P., the case is liable to be dismissed against O.P. We have carefully gone through the written version and noted its contents. And on careful scrutiny of entire documents filed by the complainant, we find that the contention of O.P. regarding jurisdiction is absolutely correct. Even O.P.’s office does not fall within the jurisdiction of this Forum, although the allegations leveled by the complainant against O.P. are all very common ones for all of us. We, as the passengers, quite often come across these problems like no water supply in the bathroom, most of the lights and fans inside the compartments remain out of order etc. But here in this case, due to lack of jurisdiction, we return the instant case to the complainant with a liberty to file the instant case on same cause of action against O.P. before the appropriate Forum.

      Hence,

                                    O     R     D      E      R      E        D

      That the C. C. Case No. 284  of 2013 ( HDF 284  of 2013 )  be  returned to the complainant   with a liberty to file the instant case on same cause of action. Accordingly the case is disposed of.

            Supply the copies of the order to the parties, as per rule.