- Consumer court holds Indian Railways liable for denying confirmed reserved berths to 4 passengers
- The passengers were forced to stand on the LTT Patna Express throughout the journey
- Railways ordered to pay Rs 20,000 compensation, refund booking amount with 8% interest, pay litigation costs
A consumer court held the Indian Railways responsible for failing to provide confirmed reserved berths to passengers. The Bhojpur Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has directed the railways to pay Rs 20,000 compensation to four passengers who were forced to complete the train journey standing.
As per a Bar and Bench report, the complaint arose after four passengers, who were travelling from Vindhyachal (Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh) to Ara (Bhojpur, Bihar) on the LTT Patna Express, found their confirmed berths were reportedly occupied by railway staff when they boarded the train. The complaint said that the passengers were denied their seats despite requesting the staff to vacate the berths for which they had confirmed seats.
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The bench of Krishna Pratap Singh (president) and Kamal Kishore Singh (member) observed that the passengers suffered “mental, physical, and economic harassment” due to the railways' deficiency in service. It ordered North Central Railway and the Ministry of Railways to refund the booking amount of Rs 1,876.80 along with 8% annual interest and pay Rs 20,000 as compensation and Rs 15,000 towards litigation costs within 60 days.
The commission further stated that if the payment is not made within the stipulated time, the complainant would be entitled to recover the amount with 10% annual interest through legal process.
As per the complaint, the passengers had previously attempted to lodge complaints through the railway helpline and social media platforms, including Railway Seva and Rail Ministry. However, despite getting a complaint reference number through SMS, the passengers alleged that no effective action was taken during the journey.
The passengers also said that when a TTE appeared at Buxar station, they again raised the issue but were allegedly told to “manage” due to the heavy rush on the train.
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Before the commission, the railways argued that the dispute related to law and order issues falls under the jurisdiction of the government railway police (GRP) and not the railway administration. As per reports, the railways also denied any deficiency in service and claimed that appropriate action had already been taken on the complaint.
After reviewing tickets, complaint records, text messages and photographs submitted by the passengers, the commission came to the decision that the passengers had been denied their confirmed seats and were subjected to harassment due to the railway authorities' failure to provide the promised service.
