YAD RAM Vs. SHISH RAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Yad Ram and Prem Chand, Inspector and Sub- Inspeclor, respectively, Haryana Roadways, Faridabad, have come up in appeal against the order dated 9.2.1996 passed by the learned District Forum, Faridabad, whereby the complaint of Shish Ram and Ramesh Chand alleging deficiency in service and misbehaviour on the part of the appellants during their journey undertaken in the Haryana Roadways bus, has been accepted.

(2.) The complainants had boarded Haryana Roadways Bus No. HYU-6709 on 18.8.1995 from Y. M. C. A. to Ballabgarh. According to their allegations, even though they had handed over Rs.4/- for two tickets to the Conductor of the bus for purchasing tickets yet this was not done. Other passengers of the bus were also demanding the tickets from the Conductor as they had also paid the fare and the tickets had not been issued to them. In the meantime, the checking staff of the Haryana Roadways stopped the bus near the Goodyear Tyres Factory on the G. T. Road, Ballabgarh, and losing no time the complainants got down from the bus and apprised the checking staff about the behaviour of the Conductor. The checking staff, instead of asking the Conductor for the lapse, blamed the complainants for travelling without tickets and compelled them to pay Rs.70/- each as penalty. The checking staff did not even allow the complainants to take their luggage from the bus and thus, they lost their clothes in the bus itself. Aggrieved by this deficiency in service and misbehaviour of the Conductor, the complainants approached the General Manager, Haryana Roadways, Ballabgarh, but when nothing was done to redress their grievance, they invoked the jurisdiction of the Consumer Forum by claiming Rs.11,000/- by way of the cost of their clothes as also compensation on account of inconvenience and harassment, etc.

(3.) In their reply, the appellants pleaded that the complainants were found travelling without tickets during raid by the checking staff and were charged Rs.20/- each, and that the complaint filed by them against the appellants was absolutely false. During the trial, the complainants filed their affidavits substantiating the allegations made in their complaint. The appellants, though in the beginning got adjournments for filing their counter-affidavit yet later on they did not appear at all nor did they file any counter-affidavit or led any evidence. In these circumstances, the learned District Forum, after hearing the complainants and having gone through their affidavits, allowed the complaint by issuing the following direction : "therefore, taking the accusation made by the complainants as true, this Forum orders opposite party to refund an amount of Rs.40/- charged as penalty and also to pay within one month of this order an amount of Rs.8,000/- to the complainants to compensate them for the loss of their goods of the value of Rs.972/- and also for harassment and mental tension unnecessarily caused to them by the Conductor and the checking staff. This Forum also orders that the abovesaid amount be recovered from the pay of the Conductor and also the staff which had checked the bus on the day of occurrence. "