Railways can’t take you for a ride

Pushpa Girimaji

After charging for an air conditioned coach, if the Railways fail to provide proper air conditioning or an AC coach, can the passengers seek compensation from the Railways for the deficient service and agony caused to the passengers? My family and I suffered as a result of such deficient service last summer and I want compensation for one of the worst train journeys that we undertook as a result. 

Having collected the fare for an air conditioned coach, the Railways are bound to provide one. As a responsible public sector undertaking, it has to check the coaches much before the start of the journey to ensure that the air-conditioning is working properly. If for any reason, it is not working satisfactorily, it has to be rectified or the coach replaced. If the Railways fails to follow due process for ensuring efficient service and fails to provide air-conditioning as promised, then obviously, it is guilty of deficient and negligent service and are liable for the consequences.

Have consumer courts handled such cases?

The consumer courts have taken the railways to task for (a) not providing the AC coach despite issuing tickets for the same, and (b) for failing to ensure proper air-conditioning in the coach, thereby causing lot of inconvenience to the passengers. In both types of cases, the courts have awarded compensation to the passengers.

I must mention that only recently — on January 3 to be more specific — the apex consumer court dismissed a revision petition filed by the Railways against such compensation. This case pertains to a journey that the complainant undertook along with his wife and two minor children in June 2012 on Jhelum Express. According to the complainant, from the very beginning, the air conditioning was not working properly and despite several complaints at every station, all they got was assurances that it was being set right. By the time they reached Jhansi, the air conditioning completely broke down and since the widows in these coaches are completely sealed, there was no ventilation in the coaches and the passengers started to suffocate and vomit. The complainant’s children were badly affected and to make matters worse, there was no water in the third AC washroom. Eventually, they were promised that the AC would be made functional at New Delhi station, but this did not happen either. The Railways also didn’t make any alternate arrangement to shift the passengers to another coach. There was also no medical help or first aid on the train and it was only when they reached Jalandhar that his children got some medical help. After such a harrowing experience, the passenger filed a complaint before the consumer court, describing the horror of the 30-hour journey in an air-tight compartment during hot, humid weather and sought from the Railways, compensation and costs of litigation. 

The District Forum awarded a measly Rs 15,000 towards compensation and litigation cost. But the Railways was unhappy with this and filed an appeal before the Punjab State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, which dismissed the appeal. In its revision petition before the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commisison, the Railways again denied that there was any problem with the air-conditioning at all. The National Commission dismissed its petition on the main ground that it was filed after a delay of 173 days! The Commission said: “I am not inclined to condone the said delay, more so when condonation of such delay would cause further harassment to the complainant, who, along with his other family members, including two minor children, despite having AC III Tier ticket, was forced to undertake a long train journey of 30 hours in the month of June 2012, without air-conditioning facility in a sealed compartment” (Indian Railways and Others Vs Ish Sharma, Jalandhar, RP No 56 of 2017, order dated January 3, 2018)

Having said that, I must mention that these days, railway passengers can send their complaints (including problems in air-conditioning) through short service messaging (SMS) to the Railways on 8121281212, mentioning the train number, bogie number and the nature of the complaint. The Railways promise to acknowledge and attend to such complaints immediately.