According to a complaint filed by Trimbak Vishnu Joshi, the bus in which he had reserved three seats for May 4, 1997, was to leave for Aurangabad from Malegaon at 3.30 pm. Accordingly, he arrived at the Malegaon bus stand half-an-hour before the scheduled departure and waited at platform number 7, from where the bus was supposed to depart.

When it failed to turn up, Joshi approached the depot manager only to be told that the bus had already left.

After a futile argument with the official, Joshi filed a complaint with the consumers' forum.

The forum admitted the case and asked the State Transport authorities to pay a compensation of Rs 1,000 -- against Joshi's claim of Rs 5,000 -- for ``causing inconvenience and harassment'' to the passenger.