Railways will have to face the punishment for theft of passenger’s luggage. NCDRC i.e. National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has ordered Railways to pay compensation worth lakhs of rupees to a passenger in a case. The Commission says that this incident happened due to the negligence of the railway officials and there was lack of facilities provided to the passengers. The special thing is that this matter is 7 years old.
what was the matter
Dilip Kumar Chaturvedi, a resident of Durg, was traveling from Katni to Durg in Amarkantak Express with his family on 9 May 2017. He was in sleeper coach. He had lodged an FIR with the Railway Police regarding his belongings that at around 2.30 in the night, goods and cash worth Rs 9.3 lakh were stolen. After this he filed a case in Durg District Consumer Commission.
The Commission ordered South East Central Railway GM, Durg Station Master and Bilaspur GRP police station in-charge to repay the claimed amount. Thereafter the respondents challenged the order in the State Commission, from where the order of the District Commission was cancelled. After this Chaturvedi turned to NCDRC.
The matter reached NCDRC
Chaturvedi had told NCDRC that the TTE and Railway Police staff were negligent in allowing unauthorized people into the reserved coaches. His lawyer also told the commission that the stolen goods were tied with a chain and the statement of the other party under Section 100 cannot be considered as a case of negligence.
What did the commission say?
The NCDRC says the passenger had taken ‘reasonable precautions’ for the security of his luggage and the TTE failed in its duty to prevent outsiders from entering the reserved coach. After this the Commission issued orders to give compensation of Rs 4.7 lakh to the passenger. The special thing is that NCDRC did not even accept the statement of the Railways that under Section 100 of the Railway Act, if the passenger has not booked the luggage and does not have the receipt, then their administration is not responsible for the theft.
The NCDRC bench of Justice Sudeep Ahluwalia and Justice Rohit Kumar Singh said, ‘…it is found that the Railways is responsible for the theft and due to the negligence of the authorities concerned, there was deficiency in the facilities provided to the passengers.’ The Commission also said that it is the responsibility of the Railways to take care of the passengers traveling in reserved coaches and their luggage.
