INDIAN AIRLINES LTD Vs. JOGINDER SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Indian Airlines Ltd. , having its principal office at Airlines House, Gurudwara Rakabganj Road, New Delhi, through General Manager (Commercial) through S. Jagbir Singh (Jagbir Singh), Station Manager of Indian Airlines Ltd. , at 39, Court Road, Amritsar, has filed this appeal under Sections 15 and 17 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 against the order dated 25.6.1999 of the District Forum, Amritsar. The prayer in the appeal is to set aside the above mentioned order and allow the appeal.

(2.) The case of the complainant is that he had purchased a ticket No.737038 on 12.1.1999 to travel by Indian Airlines. He had to travel by air from Sharjah to Amritsar on 15.1.1999 on the basis of that ticket. He had purchased one new Colour T. V. Hitachi Make 20" from M/s. Ali Shoukat Electronics, Al Ain-Abu Dhabi, U. A. E. for an amount of 750 DHS. He had handed over the T. V. set and other goods to Indian Airlines Authorities at Sharjah while boarding Indian Airlines Flight No. IC-0882. The Airbus instead of landing at Amritsar Rajasansi Airport, landed at New Delhi. In this way, flight was terminated at Delhi without disclosing the reason for such termination of the flight. The complainant and other co-passengers staged a Dharna at the Airport at the counter of the opposite party/appellant. Opposite party thereafter arranged an alternative mode of transport and brought the passengers and their goods to Amritsar and some of the passengers were dropped on the way. The allegation in the complaint is that the baggage of the passengers was not properly handed over to them, as a result of which the Colour T. V. purchased by the complainant was damaged in transit. The complainant had also to undergo lot of inconvenience, harassment and mental agony on account of negligence of the opposite party. Feeling aggrieved, he filed the complaint, asking relief.

(3.) The opposite party denied any deficiency in service on their part. It was stated that the damage to the T. V. set was not reported by the complainant at Delhi Airport while receiving delivery of the baggage. It was stated that the flight was terminated at Delhi due to bad weather, announcement of which was made at Sharjah. The surface transport was arranged for passengers including the complainant. All the passengers collected their baggage from the Conveyor Belt themselves and no damage was reported by any passenger including the complainant. Therefore, it was prayed that the complaint may be dismissed with costs.