Northern railway to pay Rs 6,820 to consumer for charging him twice

However, when he was at the New Delhi railway station, he was asked for an ‘original ticket’ by the chief ticket collector.

He told the collector that he had booked the tickets through reservation and showed all the relevant documents, but was still made to pay a sum of Rs 5,150.

The Divisional Railway Manager, Divisional Office, Northern Railway, in reply submitted that as per statement of Travelling Ticket Examiner Dinesh Chand who was on duty in the said train, the passenger failed to produce an ‘original ticket’ despite bring given sufficient time and as per railway rules, a penalty will be imposed on anyone travelling without the original ticket. Since the complainant failed to produce the original ticket, penalty charges were recovered from him and due receipt in respect of the same was issued.

The Commission after hearing the matter said, “There is no dispute that the railway authorities rightly recovered penalty charges from the complainant because he did not have the ticket while travelling, but, it is also a fact that the amount of Rs 4,820 paid is also in possession of the Railways. Hence, we are of the opinion that the act of the Norther Railway authorities for charging twice for the same travel to the same consumer (which is complainant) proves deficiency in service and unfair trade practice on their part.”

The Commission thus directed the Northern Railway authorities to refund the amount of Rs 4,820 to the complainant, and pay Rs 1,000 as compensation and Rs 1,000 as cost of litigation.