TSRTC must pay Rs 10,453 to passenger for cancelling service

HYDERABAD : The Telangana State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission ordered Telangana State Road Transport Corporation(TSRTC) to pay a passenger in Hyderabad Rs 10,453 in compensation after TSRTC cancelled his transport for unspecified reasons.

On August 8,2020, Kovirineni Ramesh, a resident of Motinagar in Hyderabad, purchased two TSRTC bus tickets online for Rs 469 each to travel from Hyderabad to Palvancha. However, TSRTC officials cancelled both bus routes.

The complainant got a total refund of Rs 468 for one bus ticket, but only a partial refund of Rs 15 for the other. He did, however, complain to TSRTC's online support, who responded by saying that if TSRTC cancelled a service for any reason, customers could cancel the ticket within 15 days of the date of the journey to receive a full refund, excluding service fees. When the Bhadrachalam Depot Manager did not respond, he decided to go to the Hyderabad Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission for the balance refund.

In response to the passenger's claims, TSRTC asserted that the complaint cancelled the other ticket on September 9, 2020, more than a month after the booking date of August 23, 2020, whereas he did so on the same day for which he received a full refund. The TSRTC authorities further asserted that the complainant himself failed to cancel the ticket for the cancelled bus trip within the allotted 15 days in accordance with the cancellation policy. Therefore, they requested that the complaint be dismissed.

The undisputed fact of the case, according to the Consumer Forum, is that the TSRTC had cancelled the bus service, resulting in the cancellation of the complainant's ticket. Clearly, the complainant did not cancel the ticket. As a result, the consumer forum asked, "How does the complainant's or cancellation consumer's ticket become a requirement for a refund of the ticket fare of a cancelled ticket when the opposing party has already cancelled the bus service?"

The non-refunding of the full cost of the complainant's cancelled ticket based on the aforementioned cancellation policy condition was therefore held not only arbitrary but also amounts to a fault in service, the consumer forum argued.

The consumer forum's findings were upheld, and it was decided that the complainant was entitled to a refund of the full cost of the ticket (ID: 64513241) as well as just compensation for the inconvenience and loss/damage caused owing to the deficiency of service on the part of the opposite party (TSRTC).

Therefore, the forum ordered in August 2022 TSRTC to pay Rs. 10,000 in litigation costs and to return the remaining Rs. 453 in connection with the bus ticket No. 64513241 that was cancelled by the opposing party.