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| Rlys to pay Rs 50k for illegal passengers in reserved coach | | | New Delhi | Apr 22
A train passenger, who along with his family was harassed by unauthorised passengers who barged into a reserved coach, has been awarded a compensation of Rs 50,000 by a consumer court.
The court held the Indian Railways guilty of deficiency in service and directed it to pay a litigation of cost of Rs 5,000, in addition to the compensation, to complainant and Tihar jail's law officer Sunil Kumar Gupta.
Gupta said in his complaint that he along with his family was forced to travel awake during their overnight journey from Delhi to Jammu three years ago.
"Such a situation speaks volumes about the working of the railways as extraneous considerations on the part of officials allow unauthorised passengers to occupy reserved seats," said New Delhi District Consumer Forum president K K Chopra.
Holding the Northern Railways liable for "deficiency in service, mental agony and harassment", the forum -- also comprising Neeru Mittal and R K Manchanda -- asked it to pay a compensation besides Rs 5,000 as cost to Gupta.
Gupta along with his wife Poonam and two children had boarded the Jammu Express from Old Delhi railway station for Jammu Tavi on June 26, 2005. He said in his complaint that a large number of authorised passengers later entered his second class reserved coach.
Opposing Gupta's charges, the railways said he should have approached the travelling ticket examiner (TTE) to lodge his complaint or should have pulled the train's chain.
"It is the duty of the TTE to come to the compartment to check all the seats and to ensure that passengers who paid sleeper charges should have been provided berths. Had the railways performed its duty, the occupancy by unreserved and illegal occupiers of the seats could have been detected and action taken against them," the forum said. |
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