67-year-old sues KSRTC for failing to pick him up from bus stop, wins ₹1k Senior Citizen Pre-Booked Ticket; Designated Spot Changed On Day Of Travel

CONSUMER IS KING

67-year-old sues KSRTC for failing to pick him up from bus stop, wins ₹1k

Senior Citizen Pre-Booked Ticket; Designated Spot Changed On Day Of Travel

Petlee.Peter@timesgroup.com

Bengaluru:15.11.2021

A 67-year-old man, who was not picked up at a designated bus stop in Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu by a Karnataka State Road transport Corporation (KSRTC) bus on which he had booked a ticket to travel to Bengaluru, took the utility to a consumer court and has now won a refund and compensation of Rs 1,000.

S Sangameswaran, a resident of Banashankari 3rd Stage, had booked return tickets online on KSRTC Airavat Club Class from Bengaluru to Tiruvannamalai. As planned, he left Bengaluru on October 12, 2019 and was scheduled to return to the city the next day. He reached the designated bus stop around noon. However, despite waiting for over an hour, there was no sign of the bus.

Sangameswaran had received an SMS from the state transporter mentioning his bus details, including the conductor’s contact number. When he called the number, he was told that the bus had left Tiruvannamalai as he failed to turn up at the new temporary stop and it was 30km away on its journey towards Bengaluru.

The dejected senior citizen had no choice but to take another KSRTC bus from Tiruvannamalai and reach Hosur by paying Rs 131. From there he took another bus to Bengaluru for Rs 69. Enraged by the fact that a senior passenger like him with a pre-booked sleeper ticket for the premium service wasn’t informed about the change in bus stop, Sangameswaran approached the Bangalore 2nd Urban Additional District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission in Shantinagar with a compliant against the managing director and general manager (traffic), KSRTC.

The litigation commenced on October 30, 2019. Sangameswaran presented his case, while the KSRTC lawyer claimed the complainant wasn’t maintainable by law. The attorney also stated that the case should be dismissed by the forum as the place where the alleged incident happened was Tiruvannamalai and beyond its jurisdiction.

He further said the conductor of the bus had sent an SMS to the complainant about the local TN police temporally shifting the bus stop to an outer location to manage crowds during the full moon day and it was a mistake on the part of the complainant, who failed to be present at the spot. He also claimed that 23 other passengers had boarded the bus, but not the complainant.

The judges of the consumer forum, however, didn’t accept the state transporter’s version as it failed to provide proof to substantiate its claims. The utility also failed to produce the bus conductor before the forum.

In their verdict pronounced on October 26, 2021, the consumer court ordered the managing director and GM (traffic) of KSRTC to refund Rs 497 towards the complainant’s Airavat ticket and Rs 131 and Rs 69 for the alternative bus journey he was forced to take to return to Bengaluru. The court also ordered the officers to pay the senior citizen a compensation of Rs 1,000 for the trouble caused.

All payments to the Bengalurean must be made within 30 days of the order, the court ordered.

UNPLEASANT EXPERIENCE

S Sangameswaran, a resident of Banashankari 3rd Stage, had booked return tickets online on KSRTC Airavat Club Class from Bengaluru to Tiruvannamalai. As planned, he left from Bengaluru on October 12, 2019 and was to return to the city the next day. He reached the designated bus stop around noon. But despite waiting for over an hour, there was no sign of the KSRTC bus