Supreme Court ordered Railways to pay Compensation for late arrival 

 

Special Leave Petition (C) No. 13288 Of 2021

Northern Western Railway & Anr. Versus Sanjay Shukla SC

Order dated 8.9.2021

(Citation: LL 2021 SC 427)

The Supreme Court, held if Railways fail to explain the late that delay occurred because of the reasons beyond their control and do not provide evidence they are certainly liable to pay compensation for such delay.

"Therefore, unless and until the evidence is laid explaining the delay and it is established and proved that delay occurred which was beyond their control and/or even there was some justification for delay, the railway is liable to pay the compensation for delay and late arrival of trains."

It was noted by the court that no evidence at all was led by the railways explaining the delay and/or late arrival of train at Jammu.

"The railways were required to lead the evidence and explain the late arrival of train to establish and prove that delay occurred because of the reasons beyond their control. At least the railways were required to explain the delay which the railways failed. It cannot be disputed that every passenger's time is precious and they might have booked the tickets for further journey, like in the present case from Jammu to Srinagar and thereafter further journey."

Facts leading to this judgment were that consumer in this case booked four tickets for his family including himself from the Northern Western Railway in Ajmer Jammu Express Train No. 12413 for the journey from Kishangarh to Jammu Tawi on 10.06.2016. He also further booked return reserved tickets from the same train for 17.06.2016. The said train after starting from Ajmer had to reach Jammu Tawi at 8:10 a.m. in the morning on 11.06.2016. As per the facts narrated by complainant before District Consumer Forum in   Case No993of 2016, he had to take flight at 12:00 noon from Jammu to Srinagar in Spice Jet, which was to be landed at Srinagar at 12:15 p.m. But the said train did not reach in time and it was delayed by four hours and reached Jammu at 12:00 noon. Since the Jammu Airport was at a far distance from Jammu Railway Station and they had to reach the airport at least two hours prior to the departure of the flight, they could not reach in time and missed the flight. Thereafter the respondent booked private taxi and reached Srinagar and had a  loss of Rs. 9,000/- as air fare, Rs. 15,000/- towards taxi hire charges for going from Jammu to Srinagar, Rs. 10,000/- on account of booking of boat in Dal Lake. District Forum by order dated 14.09.2017 allowed the complaint by observing that there was a deficiency in service and because of that the complainant suffered. The District Forum directed Railways to pay to the complainant Rs. 25,000/- as compensation, Rs. 5,000/- each towards mental agony and litigation charges within one month from the date of the order, failing which the complainant would be entitled to 9% simple interest.

The order passed by the District Forum came to be confirmed by the State Commission in an appeal and thereafter by the National Commission by the impugned judgment and order passed in the revision petition.

Matter before the Supreme Court

A Bench of Justice MR Shah and Justice Aniruddha Bose was hearing a special leave petition preferred by the Northern Western Railway who was aggrieved by such order.

Railways while arguing their case raised single point in their defence

 Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhatti 

·         It is submitted that there may be number of reasons for delay and late running of train.

Late running of train cannot be said to be deficiency in service on the part of the railways. It is submitted that in view of Rule 114 and Rule 115 of the Indian Railway Conference Association Coaching Tariff No. 26 Part-I (Volume-I), there shall not be any liability of the railways to pay compensation for late running of train. Observations of SC

Supreme Court Observed & Ordered

·         There was no dispute to late arrival of the Ajmer Jammu Express Train by four hours. As per the scheduled time, the train was to reach at Jammu Tawi at 8:10 a.m. in the morning on 11.06.2016. However, it reached Jammu Tawi at 12:00 noon. Complainant suffered

·         The complainant booked the connecting flight from Jammu to Srinagar which was to take off at 12:00 noon. Because the train reached Jammu Tawi by delay of four hours at 12:00 noon instead of its scheduled time of arrival at 8:10 a.m., the complainant missed the flight from Jammu to Srinagar. The complainant was required to travel to Srinagar by taxi. The complainant also suffered loss of Rs. 9,000/- as air fare. The complainant also paid Rs.15,000/- towards taxi hire charges and also loss of Rs. 10,000/- on account of booking of boat in Dal Lake.

·         The railways were required to lead the evidence and explain the late arrival of train to establish and prove that delay occurred because of the reasons beyond their control. At least the railways were required to explain the delay which the railways failed. No evidence was given  by railways for the cause of delay.

·         Every passenger’s time is precious and they might have booked the tickets for further journey, like in the present case from Jammu to Srinagar and thereafter further journey. Therefore, unless and until the evidence is laid explaining the delay and it is established and proved that delay occurred which was beyond their control and/or even there was some justification for delay, the railway is liable to pay the compensation for delay and late arrival of trains.

“Therefore looking into  the facts and circumstances of the case and in the absence of any evidence explaining the delay, the District Forum, the State Commission and the National Commission have rightly observed that there was deficiency in service on part of railways for which they were liable to pay the compensation to the passenger”

·         These are the days of competition and accountability. If the public transportation has to survive and compete with private players, they have to improve the system and their working culture. Citizen/passenger cannot be at the the mercy of the authorities/administration. Somebody has to accept the responsibility.

"These are the days of competition and accountability. If the public transportation has to survive and compete with private players, they have to improve the system and their working culture. Citizen/passenger cannot be at the the mercy of the authorities/administration. Somebody has to accept the responsibility", the Bench remarked

 

 

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