UMMEDMAL JAIN Vs. CHAIRMAN RSRTC

JUDGEMENT

(1.) -on the request of the appellant both the appeals were called for hearing and heard the appellant.

(2.) The grievance of the appellant in his complaint was that he undertook journey by road through the bus being run by the respondent, from Ajmer to Kota. He was charged Rs.92/- per ticket and when he undertook journey back from Kota to Ajmer, he was again charged Rs.92/-. His grievance was that he was overcharged. According to him the respondent could have charged Rs.88/- towards fare, Rs.2/- towards toll tax and Rs.1/- towards insurance. His further case was that the order of the Chairman of the respondent Corporation dated 29.4.2002, increasing the fare by Re.1/- and Rs.2/-, according to the distance covered by the journey, was quite arbitrary and the increased fare could not have been charged by the respondent from the appellant. The D. F. Ajmer, however, held that the dispute, as was raised by the appellant in his complaint, could not be gone into by the Forum as such dispute was not a consumer dispute and the dispute related to the charge of fare and taxes by the Government/corporation. In this behalf the D. F. relied upon the decisions of the National Commission in the cases of Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation V/s. B. G. Sarang, 1995 3 CPJ 40 and Consumer Unity and Trust Society, Jaipur V/s. State of Rajasthan and Ors., 1992 1 CPJ 259.

(3.) We have given our thoughtful consideration to the arguments advanced before us. The learned D. F. has rightly observed that the matter relates to the charge of fare and taxes, which are determined by the Board/government as per policy. Since the dispute brought by the appellant before the D. F. related to the policy matter of the State/board such dispute could not have been gone into by the District Forum.