Unavailability of my confirmed booked B2 berth seat

#1
Hi,

I am Pratik Ranjan. I had a reservation in 12296/SANGHA MITRA EX on 29-Mar-2013 for which i booked the ticket on 29-Nov-2012. When i went in front of my coach B2, i saw that my name was printed in the chart and the berth number was 63. When i boarded the train i saw that there were only 62 berth (1 to 62) were present in B2 coach. I inquired with the TT of the train and he told that he is helpless in giving me any seat as there are only 62 berths available in the coach and my number is 63 and there are no free berths available in any of the coach. I complaint to the senior
official available at Patna Jn station. I could not board the train as i had to travel from Patna to Bangalore 49 hrs journey and without any seat it was not possible to travel. This is a sheer ignorance from the Indian railway and Irctc part. Because of this i had to go through mental tension. I had to miss office for 1 week. I have to go through the pain of Tatkal booking or flight booking.Because of this i have to go though physical, mental and economical pain. Who is going to repay for this... Please help.

I have taken a written acknowledgment from the TT of the train that B 2 coach has only 62 seats available and lodged a complaint at Patna junction.

I need a compensation of 2 lac for my loss at Office, booking of train and flight ticket and the trauma i faced.

Regards,

Pratik Ranjan (9980544730)
 

expert

Administrator
Staff member
#2
This is the Railway ticket refund applicable in your case:

Full refund of fares shall be granted in case the railway administration is not able to provide accommodation for any reason whatsoever to passengers holding reserved tickets, provided such tickets are cancelled within three hours of the actual departure of the trains.
You should have got the refund from across the counter at the station when you went to board the train. If your ticket was single one containing more than 1 trains then you'll get 100% refund of all ticket costs. You'll need to file TDR along with the signed TTE proof of unavailability of your seat.

Now about trauma you've gone through, you can claim "damage" only if you can prove negligence on part of Railways. Clearly service has been denied just like flight cancellation - it can't be considered negligence.
 
#3
Thanks for your reply and suggestion but don't you think that it is negligence from railway side as the coaches B1 and B3 had 64 berths and only B2 had 62 berths. And more over i booked my ticket 3 months back..


[hr]
And more than that i had to run through inquiry counters, behind TTE from one coach to another. I was in dilemma whether to board the train or not as i was already out of office for last 2 weeks.. So from your perspective are these reasons not enough to ask for damage. And about self respect, i already lost that when i saw that my name was in the chart pasted outside the coach but only 62 berths were available inside and i was not able to board the train after requesting TTE multiple times for a berth. I had the right to board the train and had the berth but i was denied that.
As an Expert member i seek your advice on this front. Please help.
 

expert

Administrator
Staff member
#4
If after chart preparation, even more when your name appeared on the chart pasted on the train but seat not present -- then it clearly shows gross negligence of Indian Railways. There might not be any issue if your status was let known to you after chart preparation.

You should approach consumer forum for this negligence and yes Rs. 2 lacs damage could be paid to you.

Generally Consumer court will order to be paid to you only your ticket cost + Rs. 500 for your petrol and Rs. 500 for the agony.

Railways has clearly misguided you and conned you into traveling using your confirmed ticket but which was denied in the very last moment. They themselves were mismanaged. Otherwise you could have made alternate arrangement for your urgent travel requirement.

You should ask for refund of ticket since the travel was urgent for you and you had no time for cancellation of ticket since till last moment they conned you into thinking that seat would be provided to you.

If it was train cancellation etc in the last hour, there wouldn't be any issue. On one hand their charts showed your confirmed berth on the other hand there was no vacancy for you in the coach. This is mismanagement on the part of Railways.
 
#7
irctc officials do not have time to look in to my complaint. TDR process is started 10 days back and i have not got my refund back, leave any other compensation. I am wondering even if i get my refund then will deduct 50% as the reason shows " Passenger not travelled". What to do in this kind of situation.
 

expert

Administrator
Staff member
#8
They don't care since their salary isn't related to their job. In case of negligence especially of govt departments only courts can do something. Otherwise govt officials are simply immune to any one else in the world( including God).
 

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