Kanpur: A court in Uttar Pradesh has ordered a private airline to pay a compensation of Rs one lakh to a passenger and his 80-year-old father along with Rs 17,982 ticket expenses that they had incurred after their flight was cancelled as the ticket fare had not been refunded.
The incident dates back to December 2019 when advocate Anup Shukla and his father, residents of Kanpur, had planned to come to Lucknow from Ahmedabad by the airline. The advocate had booked their tickets at Rs 4,502 on December 9, 2019 for the journey scheduled on December 29. Shukla had planned to take his father for a visit to Somnath Temple from Ahmedabad on December 25 by train. On the evening of December 25, he received a message from the airline informing him about the cancellation of the flight. However, no refund was made by the airline.
Since Shukla had to reach Lucknow on December 29 for an important business meeting, he was compelled spend Rs 13,480 for booking another flight ticket from Ahmedabad to Kanpur. Shukla, thus spent a total of Rs 17,982 for the journey.
After which, the passenger filed a suit at the Permanent Lok Adalat against the airline and its managing director. A three-member bench of the Permanent Lok Adalat comprising chairman Akhilesh Kumar Tiwari, members Meena Rathore and Amit Dixit on Monday ordered the airline to pay Rs 17982 as ticket expenses as well as Rs one lakh as compensation for the mental agony that the passengers went through. The order also stated that in case the airline is presently non operational, the managing director who was in charge in 2019 will have to return the said amount to the passenger.
The advocate had demanded a compensation of Rs 50 lakh for mentally harassing his 80-year-old father. It was learnt that the airline had told that it had returned the ticket fare through travel agent on February 20, 2020 and September 6 was fixed for reconciliation. But, when no representatives came from the airline on the scheduled date, the Permanent Lok Adalat issued its verdict on Monday.
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