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Virendra   13 July 2017

Consumer complaint against Indian Railway

Hi, I have on-boarded on train no 06045(MAS ADI EXPRESS) on date 25 June 2017 and i had connecting train from Ahmedabad to BGKT (Train No - 11090, PNR - 8660259174, Class - 1AC, Date- 26 June 2017). My Train 06045 was started from Pune at 5.45 PM but it stopped at Dehu Road and Station staff passed 6 trains and my train was stopped for more than half an hour and then the story begin. My Second ( connecting train) has to start from Pune at 19.50 and it was mail express and our train is Superfast. My second train is running behind to our train till Boisar station and then again our train was stopped a side and passes 2-3 train which can definitely Rajdhani, Shadabdi, Durranto which was fine for us as those are priority train then Superfast. But After that my second train also passed to our train (which is mail express train) and my train (06045) is running behind my second train ( 11090) and Second train reached at Ahmedabad and even left from Ahmedabad and my train reached late approx 2.45 Hours. Because of this bull sh*t i missed my train. I even called to Dehu Road station master and he said your train is late so we have to pass right time train first and i checked on train enquiry website they passed late train as well. The next issue, When i reached Ahmedabad station master to adjust the missing train fare to another train for my actual destination (Jodhpur) then he said that if you have counter ticket then we can do it but as i have online ticket so my money (Approx Rs 3600) waste and there is no clause on IRCTC for file TDR. Even though I file TDR and it got rejected. I lounge a complaint in Indian Railway complaint site but I got status as inconvenience caused is deeply regretted and my complaint is closed. Can I file consumer case against Indian rail to get my money as this is happen because of Railway staff negligency. Please advise


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 16 Replies

Rama chary Rachakonda (Secunderabad/Highcourt practice watsapp no.9989324294 )     13 July 2017

Yes. You can file in consumer forum for damages .send a legal notice  to the railways first.. 

G.L.N. Prasad (Retired employee.)     13 July 2017

The complaint can be filed within 2 years of cause of action.  You can collect all the evidences first through RTI about exact time for arrival / departure, actual time on that particular day of those trains, total delay of those trains.

It can not be certain that you will receive compensation, and it depends on circumstances / facts of the case, whether it is reasonable or unreasonable.

There is a process of recording time on your ticket by Railways.  Have you obtained such confirmation ?

Advocate Bhartesh goyal (advocate)     13 July 2017

Issue notice to Railway authorities thereafter file complaint against Railway before District Consumer Forum and claim Rs 3600/-cost of counter ticket along with compensation for the mental and physical agony caused to you.

P. Venu (Advocate)     13 July 2017

The action of the Station is not wrong as per the extant norms. The adjustment you had requested could have been done only if the resrvation had been with provision for break journey, which is possible only at railway counters, not online. Yes, there is a larger element of unfairness involved. The matter could be taken up before a legal forum, But involves challenge to the fairness or rather its lack of the prevalent norms adopted or being enforced by the Railways. The litigation is bound to be long drawn out. Even if you are suceesful at the forums, the Railways are bound to take up the matter upto the Supreme Court. Your stakes involved are substantial, but the larger issues are. 

Wish you the best 

1 Like

Virendra   13 July 2017

Thanks much for your valuable comment. I have late arrival certificate copy issued from Ahmedabad station master. I am waiting for response of email complaint raised to minister of Railway.

Rajendra K Goyal (Advocate)     13 July 2017

May file consumer complaint.

Siddharth Srivastava (Advocate)     13 July 2017

You may raise your issue in consumer court and also in railway tribunal.

G.L.N. Prasad (Retired employee.)     13 July 2017

In common man's decision making, there is one weighment of spending good money for  bad money., that means your good money has to be spent to receive further good money and not to waste this additional amount also.

 

Narendra   13 July 2017

Through my actual personal experience if you write the word "refund the ticket amount " then it is a case of railway tribunal and if you demand compensation for journy with the mental and physical agony then file in consumer forum. My advise is you should go to railway tribunal for quick response. Railway tribunal in Rajasthan is cituated at Jaipur but tribunal only refund the ticket amount and less compensation.

Kumar Doab (FIN)     13 July 2017

You may get some reply from O/o Minister.

Agreed with members/experts.


(Guest)

Hi Virendra, Having a background from Railway family, I am adding a few cents from my side

The course of the train, priority, precedence, crossing, overtaking is all controlled by CONTROL room located at the Zonal railway headquarter which more or less acts like ATC and takes decesion based on priority, commercials, traffic etc. They have some norms like High speed Trains Shatabdi, Rajjdhani, Duranto etc will be given high priority; in similar trains, the priority will be given to the trains running right time to avoid cascading effect.. In some cases especially in Sub Urban mumbai, even the Local trains are given priority over long distance trains otherwise it will have cascading effect on the suburban zones. All I am trying to tell you is that the decesion on the moment of the trains is governed by the Control room without any prejudice and are all mostly operational decesions. Hence, I dont think challanging them will help you in any manner. Talking to Station master of Dehu Road or Ahemedabad will not help as they purely act on the directives of Central Control room. 

The Ahemedabad Station master is right. If you had a BPT (Blank paper ticket) or a manual ticket, he would have endorsed the delay and would have accomodated you elsewhere but since you had online ticket, hence he cannot do the same as online tickets are issued for confirmed reservation which cease to expire as soon as the train leaves. 

Just explore the options to get refund for the loss of money resulting out of your train running late. 

Going forward, ensure that you have enough time gap between your current train and the connecting train as you can never be sure that your train is on right time. I have faced similar situations like you and have missed the connecting trains and have lost money. Could not do anything about it. 

Hope this helps

2 Like

P. Venu (Advocate)     16 July 2017

The operational norms put in force certainly has their own rationale and logic. But, the question is, whether the Railway is not obliged to make appropriate remedial action for the innocent traveller who is put to inconvenience and loss because of the operational norms introduced and followed by the Railways themselves.  This is all the more so, because the Railways make accomodation for those travelling with BPT..

The Railway is very much the STATE and they are entitle to make and enforce rules and norms at their whims and fancies. If viewed dispassionately, such norms are archaic and is a manifestation of their selective adoption of the changes urged by new technology. 


(Guest)

Agree with Expert P. Venu

Kumar Doab (FIN)     16 July 2017

Try to ascertain from the nearest Railway Official the time gap in case of connecting trains........and where do railway publishes it! 


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