The India Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has been fined by a district consumer forum for Rs 20000 for cancelling confirmed tickets at the eleventh hour during festival season rush.
Ticket Cancellation Woes on Howrah Special Train Journey
The complainant, in her complaint to the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission–II, Hyderabad, Khursheed Begum said she, in order to travel from Secunderabad to Vizianagaram, had booked 4 tickets via an app for the Howrah Special Train on Jan 13, 2021.
She paid a sum of 6,470 Rupees for 2AC and also received confirmation via email for the same.
On the day of the journey, she said that she received an automated call informing her of cancellation of her booked tickets. This was when she was already waiting at the platform to board the train and merely an hour before the commencement of her journey.
Citing the automated call, she said that she was not given any reason as to why the cancellation was done. Despite calling the customer care centre number to understand the reason of cancellation, she did not receive any response.
She cited that back then it was Sankranti due to which all the buses had been booked already and with great ordeal, her family managed to get the tickets for ordinary bus, which amounted to another expense of 4,589 rupees.
Compensation to be Paid for Last-Minute Ticket Cancellation by IRCTC
A complaint was filed by complainant on the grounds of deficiency of service and unfair trade practice to the consumer forum since the tickets were cancelled on eleventh hour and that too without any valid reason.
Post this, when served notice, IRCTC did not appear before the forum and was considered ex parte.
The commission, during the trial, confirmed that the tickets were cancelled when the consumer was waiting on the platform at the Secunderabad railway station.
The bench said that “As no valid reasons have been assigned by the opposite party for either abrupt cancellation of confirmed tickets an hour before departure of train or deducting 470 while refunding the fare, we are under the considered view that it is just and reasonable to order considerable compensation to be payable to the complainant for inconvenience and hardship caused to her and her family apart from the refund of deducted amount”.
