Rlys to pay Rs 20,000 for jerky journey

Deepkamal Kaur

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, September 22

The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has directed the Railways to refund the ticket amount to a local resident and pay him Rs 20,000 as compensation plus Rs 5,000 as litigation charges for a jerky journey on Shatabdi Express. 

Raman Dutt had said he regularly travelled to Delhi in Shatabdi’s executive class. On September 7, 2012, when he was returning from Delhi in Coach E-2, he experienced severe jerks. “I made a written complaint in the register with the Travel Ticket Examiner (TTE), mentioning the body ache that I had suffered owing to the jerks. I also wrote there appeared to be a snag in the coach. I did not approach a consumer court at that stage.”

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He said on February 17, 2015, he again travelled to Delhi. “On my way back, I was allotted a seat on coach E1. During the journey, severe jerks resulted in water spilling on my clothes and I also suffered pain in the neck and the lower back. I made a complaint and so did co-passenger Tarwinder Singh, who was on seat no. 30.”

After the train reached Jalandhar, Dutt said he rushed to a local hospital and got himself examined. He was diagnosed with cervical spondylosis. He then moved the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum through his lawyer Mandeep Sachdev. The Railways termed the complaint “false and frivolous”, contending there was no evidence that the complainant had developed cervical spondylosis owing to the train journey.

But the forum ruled in favour of Dutt, stating there was deficiency in service. It also said there was a fault in the coach and that the passengers had experienced severe jerks.