NEW DELHI: A
Delhi District Consumer Commission
has directed
Indian Railways
to pay Rs 30,000 "on account of physical and mental agony" to a passenger who complained to have suffered due to dirty toilet and unavailability of water.
The bench of District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission-I (North District), comprising Divya Jyoti Jaipuriar, president and Harpreet Kaur Charya, member, said that the railways failed to provide basic amenities of clean toilet and water, as required under the ‘Citizen’s Charter’, which definitely amounts to deficiency in services.
Representing the complainant, advocate Manan Agarwal said that the railways “have totally failed to provide the hygienic condition of the compartments and the toilets to the public who pay full price of ticket and still suffers from the lack of basic needs on long journeys in the train”.
The complainant said that he had reserved 3AC ticket from New Delhi Railway Station to Indore for comfortable and stress-free journey. On Sept 3, 2021, when he went to toilet to freshen up at around 8am, he found that the toilets were filled with filth and there was no water either to flush or wash hands. Further, the washbasin was also choked.
As no coach attendant was present there, the complainant lodged a complaint with the images on the official online portal of
Indian Railways
“Rail Madad” around 8.22am and tweeted about the same on the official tweeter handle of Union railway minister and Railway Sewa.
While the train reached Indore station at around 10am, but the complaint remained unresolved. The complainant claimed that he had to wait for over two hours to go to toilet, causing him immense physical pressure, headache and forced him to miss work.
The railways, opposing the allegations, submitted that the service (toilet) does not come under the ‘Service’ as defined under Consumer Protection Act 2019.
"This defence of OP (Opposite Party, Indian Railways) does not hold any ground as the toilets and water are the basic amenities which cannot be denied to the passengers," the commission said.
“In the facts and circumstances of the present case we direct OP to pay lump sum of Rs 30,000 as compensation on account of physical and mental agony. We further award Rs 10,000 as litigation expenses. The order be complied within 30 days from the date of receipt of this order. In case of noncompliance Rs 40,000 (30,000/-+10,000/-) shall carry interest @7% p.a. from the date of order till compliance,” it added.
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