MTC fined after nail on bus rips through commuter’s trousers
Ram.Sundaram@timesgroup.com
Chennai:22.04.2019
Broken seats, damaged window panes and protruding nails are not uncommon in Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) buses. Most passengers tend to ignore them or end up blaming themselves for not being careful if they get injured.
But one Chennaiite has gone against the MTC for not addressing these issues and filed a case with the local consumer forum after a protruding nail damaged his new trousers.
On hearing his plea, the forum penalised MTC for negligence in service.
The incident happened a few years ago when S P Chockalingam from East Tambaram was travelling to Guindy by an MTC bus on route 21G.
As the bus neared his destination, Chockalingam left his seat for the exit door. While disembarking from the bus, a nail protruding from a seat caught his trousers and ripped through. The man said this caused him mental agony and a loss of ₹2,000. Chockalingam issued a legal notice to the MTC for not maintaining the buses properly and not carrying our repair work. Poor condition of buses could injure passengers and damage their clothes, he said.
In response, MTC denied these allegations and said the seat was damaged because a passenger had stashed his luggage inappropriately below it. The conductor of the bus had informed Chockalingam and requested him to take another seat as many were empty at that point of time. But he refused and deliberately sat on the damaged seat. MTC said it was ready to pay for the damaged trouser but the complainant approached the forum despite that.
After hearing out both sides, the District Consumer Redressal Forum, Chennai (South) directed MTC to pay ₹7,000 as compensation for damage.
But Chockalingam’s is not an isolated case. Most buses run by state-owned transport corporations are in bad shape and inconvenience passengers, this despite the government spending more than ₹300 crore a year on maintenance. So far, the state transport department has replaced 2,300 buses.
The consumer forum directed the MTC to pay ₹7,000 to the commuter whose trouser was ripped by a nail protruding out of a damaged seat
Ram.Sundaram@timesgroup.com
Chennai:22.04.2019
Broken seats, damaged window panes and protruding nails are not uncommon in Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) buses. Most passengers tend to ignore them or end up blaming themselves for not being careful if they get injured.
But one Chennaiite has gone against the MTC for not addressing these issues and filed a case with the local consumer forum after a protruding nail damaged his new trousers.
On hearing his plea, the forum penalised MTC for negligence in service.
The incident happened a few years ago when S P Chockalingam from East Tambaram was travelling to Guindy by an MTC bus on route 21G.
As the bus neared his destination, Chockalingam left his seat for the exit door. While disembarking from the bus, a nail protruding from a seat caught his trousers and ripped through. The man said this caused him mental agony and a loss of ₹2,000. Chockalingam issued a legal notice to the MTC for not maintaining the buses properly and not carrying our repair work. Poor condition of buses could injure passengers and damage their clothes, he said.
In response, MTC denied these allegations and said the seat was damaged because a passenger had stashed his luggage inappropriately below it. The conductor of the bus had informed Chockalingam and requested him to take another seat as many were empty at that point of time. But he refused and deliberately sat on the damaged seat. MTC said it was ready to pay for the damaged trouser but the complainant approached the forum despite that.
After hearing out both sides, the District Consumer Redressal Forum, Chennai (South) directed MTC to pay ₹7,000 as compensation for damage.
But Chockalingam’s is not an isolated case. Most buses run by state-owned transport corporations are in bad shape and inconvenience passengers, this despite the government spending more than ₹300 crore a year on maintenance. So far, the state transport department has replaced 2,300 buses.
The consumer forum directed the MTC to pay ₹7,000 to the commuter whose trouser was ripped by a nail protruding out of a damaged seat
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