BEFORE THE DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES
REDRESSAL COMMISSION, JALANDHAR.
Complaint No.16 of 2021
Date of Instt. 15.01.2021
Date of Decision: 26.04.2024
1. Abhay Mahajan age 31 yrs s/o Sh. Surat Chander r/o 144 Housing Board Colony Urban Estate-1 Jalandhar.
2. Surat Chander age 63 yrs s/o Sh. Chuni Lal r/o 144 Housing Board Colony Urban Estate-1 Jalandhar.
3. Seema Mahajan age 56 yrs w/o Sh. Surat Chander r/o 144 Housing Board Colony Urban Estate-1 Jalandhar.
4. Aakriti Mahajan age 24 yrs d/o Sh. Surat Chander r/o 144 Housing Board Colony Urban Estate-1 Jalandhar.
..........Complainants
Versus
1. Yatra.com Head Office Address: 6th & 11th Floor, Tower D, Unitech Cyber Park, Sector-39, Gurgaon-122001 Opposite HSBC Bank India.
2. Jet Airways (India) Ltd. Siroya Center, Sahar Airport Road, Andheri (E) Mumbai 400099.
….….. Opposite Parties
Complaint Under the Consumer Protection Act.
Before: Dr. Harveen Bhardwaj (President)
Smt. Jyotsna (Member)
Sh. Jaswant Singh Dhillon (Member)
Present: Sh. Anuj Mehta, Adv. Counsel for Complainants.
Sh. Rakesh Dhir, Adv. Counsel for OP No.1.
OP No.2 withdrawn.
Order
Dr. Harveen Bhardwaj (President)
1. The instant complaint has been filed by the complainants, wherein it is alleged that the OPs are claiming their self as one of the best companies in their respective fields and further they attract their customers by giving various advertisements that they are providing best services and the complainant no.1 Abhay Mahajan came under their impression and purchased three Air Tickets in the name of his father i.e. complainant no.2 Surat Chander, his mother i.e. complainant no.3 Seema Mahajan and sister i.e. complainant no.4 Aakriti Mahajan through website of OP No.1. The said tickets were booked from Mumbai to Amritsar for dated 16.04.2019. The complainant no.1 Mr. Abhay Mahajan had paid an amount of Rs.15,937/- to OPs for the said air tickets through his credit card via PayPal website to OP No.1 and thereafter the OPs e-mailed that confirm booked tickets to complainant at his e-mailed address. The OPs at that time assured complainants to provide their best services and also gave Yatra Reference No.160491433715 and issued him e-tickets to complainants. The complainants No.2 to 4 travelled from Amritsar to Mumbai on 17.04.2019 by Jet Airways flight. The said flight was landed at the Mumbai airport on 18.04.2019 at 00.25 A.M. The Mumbai Airport Authority has announced that this was the last flight of Jet Airways and they will not allow the Complainants for return flight. The complainants No.2 to 4 approached the Jet Airways counter at Mumbai Airport and they advised the complainants to cancelled the tickets from Mumbai to Amritsar. So as per their advised/assurance the complainants got cancelled the tickets then they got the refund. On 18.04.2019 the complainant no.1, Abhay Mahajan booked the three tire A.C. Rajdhani Express return tickets through online IRCTC from Mumbai to Hazrat Nizamudeen on 24.04.2019 which has booked Reservation against Cancellation. The complainant No.1 booked the three AC Chair car Shatabdi Express return tickets through on line IRCTC from New Delhi to Jalandhar on 25.04.2019. Thereafter, OPs failed to refund any amount to the complainants and didn't give any response in this regard. The complainants has suffered great mental tension agony and harassment and as such, necessity arose to file the present complaint with the prayer that the complaint of the complainant may be accepted and OPs be directed to refund the amount of tickets i.e. Rs.15,937/- along with current amount of Rajdhani Railway Tickets fare Rs.6915/- from Mumbai to Delhi and Stabadi Railway Tickets fare Rs.2560/- from Delhi to Jalandhar i.e. Rs.9475/- and compensation of Rs.1,50,000/- for harassment, mental agony and account of unfair trade practice on the part of OPs plus costs and litigation expenses of Rs.33,000/, in interest of justice, equity and fair play.
2. Notice of the complaint was given to the OPs, but the counsel for the complainant withdrawn the present complaint against OP No.2, vide his separate statement dated 10.01.2022. Whereas, the OP No.1 appeared through its counsel and filed written reply whereby contested the complaint by taking preliminary objections that the OP is an intermediary between the service providers and the customers and it does not have any interference in the modus operandi or working of merchants/service providers and the liability for any charges, deficiencies related to the services provided by the service providers. It is further averred that the OP confirmed the complainant that the OP N.2’s services have been suspended temporarily and informed the complainant that the OP is an online portal with an intention to make travel easier, however the liability of the OP remains restricted upto the assistance to the Customers and not the refund or any related warranties thereon. It is further averred that the OP raised a refund application to the OP No.2 against the cancellation made on the default of the OP No.2 and assisting the complainant in getting the entire refund of the cost of tickets. The OP also shared the number of the refund application with the complainant for future reference and assured that the refund shall be processes once the OP No.2 confirms the same and processes the refund in favour of the OP. On merits, it is admitted that the complainants booked flight tickets from Mumbai to Amritsar by paying an amount of Rs.15,937/- through the website of OP No.1 on 16.04.2019. The facts regarding cancellation of the flight is also admitted, but the other allegations as made in the complaint are categorically denied and lastly submitted that the complaint of the complainant is without merits, the same may be dismissed.
3. Rejoinder not filed by the complainant.
4. In order to prove their respective versions, both the parties have produced on the file their respective evidence.
5. We have heard the learned counsel for the respective parties and have also gone through the case file as well as written arguments submitted by counsel for the OP No.1 very minutely.
6. The complainant has purchased three Air Tickets in the name of Complainant No.2 to 4 through website of OP No.1 from Mumbai to Amritsar for 16.04.2019. The ticket has been proved as Ex.C-1. This fact has been admitted by the OP No.1 also. It has also been admitted by OP No.1 and proved by the complainant vide document which is part of Ex.C-1 that Rs.15,937/- were paid for booking the flight tickets to the OP No.1. The confirmation of the tickets was also made through emails and the confirmation has been proved Ex.C-3. It is not disputed that the complainant landed on 17.04.2019 to Mumbai and it has been alleged by the complainant that the Mumbai Airline Authorities announced that this was the last flight of Jet Airways from Mumbai to Amritsar. It is admitted that the complainant cancelled the Air Tickets as per the announcement and after approaching the Jet Airways counter from Mumbai to Amritsar. The cancelled tickets have been proved Ex.C-4. As per the complainant, they got the refund. As per the written statement of the OP No.1, on filing the refund application, refund of Rs.1218/- was given by the OP No.2. The complainant proved on record the Railway Tickets Ex.C5 and Ex.C6. As per Ex.C-5 and Ex.C-6, the complainants spent Rs.6915/- from Mumbai to Delhi and Rs.2560/- from New Delhi to Jalandhar for 25.04.2019. The complainant has alleged that he has not been refunded the amount despite the refund application and has been harassed.
7. The OP has denied all the allegations and submitted that Rs.1218/- were refunded by the OP No.2. The ticket was got cancelled by the complainant himself at the asking of OP No.2. The OP No.1 retained the amount of Rs.1200/- and the promotional discount of Rs.1200/- towards the service free, promotional discount of Rs.500/- used by the complainant at the time of making the booking. All this shows that the complainant was not paid anything as refund of the amount spent by him for purchasing ticket from Mumbai to Amritsar. All the tickets Ex.C-3 shows that there is an information at Point No.7 that ‘If a ticket is cancelled directly from the airlines website, office or call center, the customer needs to Claim Refund from MyBookings portal at Yatra. Yatra will levy Rs.400 per passenger per segment’. Ex.C-7 is the reply given by the OP No.1 admitting that their team is working closely with Jet Airways to get refund. Similarly, Ex.C-8 is the emails by OP No.1 admitting that the refund process is being done by the OP No.1. Ex.OP-3 shows that the OP No.1 has sent email mentioning that Jet Airways has temporarily suspended all operations and the due refund shall be initiated by them. This clearly shows that it is the OP No.1, who was to make the refund of the money. There are guidelines and guidance to refund claimants as produced by the complainant, which says that ‘in case of Tickets booked through travel agent or online travel aggregator e.g. make my trip or yatra.com etc.) The consumers are to claim their refund from travel agent or travel aggregator as applicable.
It has further been mentioned in the document ‘that it is possible that the travel agent or online travel aggregator may independently be filing a proof of claim in relation to the refunds being claimed. We request the aggrieved passengers and the relevant travel agent or online travel aggregator to liaise with each other to ensure that two different proofs are not filed in respect of the same claim’.
8. Even for the sake of arguments, it is assumed that there were some exceptional circumstances, where the service provider was unable to honor the booking due to various reasons like act of God, labor unrest, insolvency, business exigencies, government decisions, terrorist activity, any technical issues, route and flight cancellations etc. or any other reason beyond the control of the authorities. In such situation, the service providers should make efforts to provide similar alternative to the User or refund the booking amount. In the present case, the OP had a knowledge that all operations of OP No.2 had been suspended, but OP No.1 never made any alternative arrangement for the complainants rather deducted the amount of Rs.1218/- on the ground of processing charges, whereas as per Ex.C1, the OP has already deducted the online processing charges Rs.1200/- from the complainant, therefore, they cannot charge time and again the same amount from the complainants. The OP No.1 is in active sector of air ticket booking, but it has not mitigated the loss caused to the complainant rather adlopted lame excuses for not refunding the amount to the complainant spent by him for the purchase of the tickets from Mumbai to Amritsar. Thus, the complainant has fully proved the deficiency in rendering proper service to the complainants and this is unfair trade practice on the part of the OP No.1 and thus, the complainant is entitled for the relief.
9. In view of the above detailed discussion, the complaint of the complainant is partly allowed and OP No.1 is directed to refund the amount of tickets i.e. Rs.15,937/- along with current amount of Rajdhani Railway Tickets fare Rs.6915/- from Mumbai to Delhi and Stabadi Railway Tickets fare Rs.2560/- from Delhi to Jalandhar i.e. Rs.9475/-, total comes to Rs.25,412/-. Further, the OP No.1 is directed to pay a compensation of Rs.10,000/- for causing mental tension and harassment to the complainant and Rs.5000/- as litigation expenses. The entire compliance be made within 45 days from the date of receipt of the copy of order. This complaint could not be decided within stipulated time frame due to rush of work.
10. Copies of the order be supplied to the parties free of cost, as per Rules. File be indexed and consigned to the record room.
Dated Jaswant Singh Dhillon Jyotsna Dr. Harveen Bhardwaj
26.04.2024 Member Member President
