Punjab Roadways pays heavy price for making passenger wait in the sun

Making a passenger face the vagaries of the weather and not refunding his ticket cost (Rs 120) landed Punjab Roadways in trouble as the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum directed the state transport body to pay Rs 10,000 to the complainant.

Ajay Singla, resident of Sector 38, Chandigarh, had filed a complaint against Punjab Roadways for deficiency in services. In his complaint, Singla stated that he had boarded an air-conditioned Punjab Roadways bus from Jalandhar to Mohali on June 2, 2012, which halted after covering a distance of 2 kms. As the bus failed to re-start, all the passengers got down. Ajay says that they were then made to wait under the scorching sun on a day, when the temperatures touched as high as 45 degree celsius. Then, instead of substituting it with an air-conditioned bus, all the passengers were shifted to a non-air conditioned bus for Mohali. Though Ajay had bought a ticket of Rs 120 for an air-conditioned bus, the conductor did not refund the extra fare, nor did he provide him the complaint book.

Though Punjab Roadways has averred that the passengers had themselves asked the driver and conductor to accommodate them in the next bus available, whichever it might be, the District Consumer Court has agreed that though Ajay did not suffer any major monetory loss, except for the extra fare but he ahd suffered inconvenience and harassment. Ajay said that both the conductor and the driver have not been impleaded as party in the complaint they were merely following the directions of the authorities. The District Consumer Court has directed the Punjab Roadways to pay Ajay a compensation of Rs 10,000 for inconvenience and harassment caused to him.

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