New
Delhi:
In a significant order, the Supreme Court has said that every passenger's time
is “precious” and the Railways is liable to pay the compensation for “delay and
late arrival of trains' unless it proves that the delay was due to the reasons
beyond their control.
A
bench of Justices M R Shah and Aniruddha Bose refused to allow the appeal of
Northern Western Railway against the verdict of the National Consumer Disputes
Redressal Commission (NCDRC).
The
top consumer panel had confirmed the order of compensation passed by the
consumer courts below allowing the complaint of one Sanjay Shukla who along
with three others missed the connecting flight to Srinagar in 2016 as the train
reached four hours behind the scheduled arrival at Jammu Tawi station. They had
boarded the train at Alwar in Rajasthan.
Besides
losing the expenses incurred in booking flight tickets, the complainant and
others had to take taxi for travelling to Srinagar from Jammu.
The
top court upheld the verdict of the NCDRC which had directing the Northern
Western Railway to pay ? 15,000 for taxi expenses, Rs.10,000 towards booking
expenses along with ? 5,000 each towards mental agony and litigation expenses.
It
did not agree to the contention that late running of train cannot be said to be
deficiency in service on Railways' part and certain rules said that there shall
not be any liability to pay compensation for late running of train as there may
be number of reasons for such delayed running of trains.
“Therefore,
unless and until the evidence is laid explaining the delay and it is
established and proved that delay occurred which was beyond their control
and/or even there was some justification for delay, the railway is liable to
pay the compensation for delay and late arrival of trains,” the bench said in
the order uploaded on Monday.
It
said no evidence was presented by the Railways explaining the delay and late
arrival of train at Jammu, it said.
“The
railways were required to lead the evidence and explain the late arrival of
train to establish and prove that delay occurred because of the reasons beyond
their control. At least the railways were required to explain the delay which
the railways failed. It cannot be disputed that every passenger's time is
precious and they might have booked the tickets for further journey, like in
the present case from Jammu to Srinagar and thereafter further journey,” the
order said.
Referring
to the facts of the case and the orders passed by the District Forum confirmed
by the State Commission and the National Commission, it said the impugned
orders awarding compensation to the complainant do not warrant any
interference.
“It
is not in dispute that there was a delay in the arrival of the Ajmer Jammu
Express Train by four hours. As per the scheduled time, the train was to reach
at Jammu Tawi at 8:10 a.m. on 11.06.2016. However, it reached Jammu Tawi at
12:00 noon,” it said, adding that it led to a situation where the complainants
missed their flight to Srinagar.
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