AEROFLOT RUSSIAN INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES Vs. INDERJIT SINGH JAIJEE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) SH . Inderjit Singh Jaijee, r/o 314, Sector 44A, Chandigarh, purchased 4 tickets from M/s. Aeroflot Airlines through M / s. Onkar Travel s for going from New Delhi to London. Out of these tickets, two were return tickets. The complainant alongwith his three other family members reached London via Moscow on 16.9.1994 but were shocked to find that six suit -cases had been left behind by the carrier at Moscow. It constituted negligence on the part of Aeroflot. The complainant alleges that he got his luggage three days later and had to spend this time with Sh. Ajit Singh at Strewbury for which he paid a sum of £ 300 to him. On his complaint, the Forum briefly ordered on 2.4.1997 as under:

(2.) M /s. Aeroflot as well as Onkar Travels have challenged this order by means of Appeals No. 70/1997 and 71 /1997 respectively. The case of Aeroflot Russian International Airlines is that compensation was paid to the complainant (respondent in the present appeal) and that nothing more is payable to him.

(3.) WE have heard the learned Counsel for the parties and also perused the record. It is not denied that the complainant had to stay at London and had to bear the boarding and lodging charges for himself and his family members. He was also required to purchase alternative woollens at London and had certainly undergone harassment for the non -delivery of luggage immediately after his arrival at the Airport. Since in this case, misplacement/loss of luggage was temporary, we hold that £ 233.88 awarded by the District Forum for purchase of alternative wollens at London was reasonable and similarly the complainant was also entitled to £ 300 for three days stay at London when he and the members of his family were required to halt and wait. As regards the sum allegedly spent for boarding and lodging with Sh. Gurpreet Singh Sidhu, we find that it is not admissible when he has been compensated as mentioned above. As regards the amount spent on purchase of two return tickets of Romanian Airlines, there was no evidence in rebuttal that the respondent was refunded the price of the return tickets at any stage. Thus, the award of Rs. 16,500/ - is also confirmed.