Jodhpur: Despite making the correct entry in the reservation form, a male passenger was not only marked female on the ticket but when the passenger along with his family alighted at Jodhpur railway station, the ticket checking squad declared the traveler without a ticket and imposed a fine of Rs 330 on him.
In 2009, the aggrieved passenger then filed a complaint against the railways before the Consumer Protection Commission II and after thirteen years, the forum gave the verdict in the case, asking the railways to pay the complainant of Rs 50,000 for causing mental harassment and agony to the traveler in front of his family. Despite that, he was not at fault.
On September 29, 2009, Mahesh, a resident of Bhopalgarh, filled in a railway reservation slip for his mother and sister for undertaking the journey from Ahmedabad to Jodhpur, but the booking clerk mistakenly marked him as female along with his co-traveler mother and sister in the ticket.
Despite pointing out the glaring lapse in the ticket, it was not rectified. When Mahesh alighted from the train at the Jodhpur railway station, the ticket checking squad forcibly realized a fine of Rs 330 from him. Besides, he was also threatened with police action for traveling without a ticket.
During the trial of the case, several legal objections were raised on behalf of Jodhpur DRM to make the complainant responsible for the folly. After hearing both sides, the chairman of the Commission, Dr. Shyam Sundar Lata, and members Dr. Anuradha Vyas, and Anand Singh Solanki passed the verdict in favor of the complainant. The action of the railway officials was declared illegal. Besides, the Commission also in its ruling stated that the complainant had to go through a humiliating situation in front of his family members for the mistake committed by the booking clerk.
Considering it as a serious lapse on the part of the railway and also termed it an unfair trade practice, the Commission ordered to return the fine amount of Rs 330 as well as asked to pay Rs 50,000 as compensation to the complainant for causing physical and mental agony to him.
