MADURAI: The Madurai District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission recently ordered a travel agency to pay Rs 1 lakh to a private college professor, towards compensation and refund amount, for refusing to return the travel fare paid by him, despite the agency cancelling the trip.
According to the order passed by the commission's president, M Piravi Perumal and member-I, P Shanmugapriya, the professor V Senthil had paid Rs 60,000 to Sri Murugan Travel Agency for booking three tickets — for himself, his wife and son — for a trip arranged by the agency to Andaman Islands in April 2023.
Though the agency had booked flight tickets for Senthil and his family, it later cancelled the tickets and booked fresh ones on another airline without getting consent from Senthil. A few days later, the agency cancelled the entire trip, but neither gave any reason to Senthil nor refunded the amount paid by him as trip fare. Stating that this caused great mental agony to him and his family, Senthil moved the commission seeking compensation.
The travel agency refuted the allegations and stated that the airline had filed insolvency and bankruptcy petition and cancelled all flights without refunding the ticket fare. The agency further stated that it had specifically mentioned in its pamphlet that in case of flight delays or cancellation, the customer should bear the expenses. The agency alleged that Senthil was trying to evade payment of the remaining trip fare of Rs 36,000.
Hearing both sides, the forum concluded that the agency had chosen to book the tickets in the said airline and therefore it is responsible for the outcome of the decision and cannot blame the complainant for the same. Moreover, there is no proof to show that the complainant was aware of the terms and conditions printed in the pamphlet and the conditions themselves seem 'unreasonable' and 'oppressive' and amount to 'unfair contract', the commission observed, and ordered the agency to refund Rs 60,000 to Senthil along with Rs 30,000 compensation and Rs 10,000 litigation charges, within 45 days.