The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Chennai (North), has ordered the Southern Railways to pay Rs 25,000 to a passenger for not accommodating him in his reserved seat.The Forum, headed by K. Ramasamy, delivered the order on a complaint from R.S. K. Sukumar of Ashok Nagar here. The complainant had said he had booked a ticket to travel in first class A/C coach from Dindigul to Chennai on June, 16, 2000. On boarding the train he had found that someone else was occupying his berth.He said the TTE did not take appropriate action due to which he had to spend a sleepless night in a place provided by the TTE. Stating that he was given a certificate for refund of difference in ticket amount after he reached Chennai, the complainant contended that the Railways’ ‘‘inaction’’ in accommodating him in his seat would amount to deficiency in service and prayed the Forum order for a compensation.The Railways admitted the berth was allotted to someone else. But contended this happened due to a link failure between Dindigul and Turicorin at the time of printing the chart. ‘‘When the Railways admitted its mistake, they should have taken steps to immediately refund the difference in cost of the ticket to the complainant,” the Forum said and ordered the compensation.
