The complainants had booked two seats in the luxury AC Volvo bus
Observing that it is the duty of the Haryana roadways to provide a “trouble-free service”, the consumer forum of Chandigarh has penalised the state transport department for making passengers travel in its super luxury bus with non-working air conditioners (AC) in June’s heat.
Acting on a complaint of one Amardeep Singh Sandhu and his sister Vinaya, who had booked two seats for Rs 1,200 each in the super luxury AC Volvo bus, the consumer forum earlier this month directed it to pay them Rs 8,000 each.
The judgement came out on June 19.
For travelling comfortably from Chandigarh to New Delhi during the peak summer of June, Sandhu and his sister Vinaya had booked two seats in the bus of Haryana roadways. But, their journey on June 4, 2017, turned into a nightmare as the AC stopped working, forcing them, along with other passengers, to travel “in a closed, suffocating bus with fixed glass window panes”.
Sandhu and his sister, in their complaint, had stated that on June 4, 2017, they boarded the bus, which had just one stop at Karnal for refreshment. “The AC in the bus was not working from the very beginning and for fixing the fault, it was taken to a workshop of the Haryana transport department in Industrial Area, Chandigarh, where the passengers were forced to wait for an hour, which delayed the journey further. However, even after repairs, the AC did not work and repeated requests of the passengers to arrange another bus fell on deaf ears of the driver and conductor,” read the complaint.
Sandhu had then moved a legal notice on June 20, 2017, but to no avail. Following this, he had moved the complaint at the consumer forum.
The transport department, Haryana, and General Manager, Haryana roadways, had resisted the complaint by filing their joint written statement, pleading that the bus was in perfect condition. “The AC, being an electronic machine, could break down any time,” read their reply.
“According to the driver and conductor, the AC was functioning, but not cooling properly. The passengers were also given an option to seek refund, but they requested us to fix the AC. As such, the bus was taken to the workshop and eventually left for its destination. Thus, the delay was due to unavoidable circumstances,” the reply added.
After hearing the arguments of both the parties, the forum opined, “…it must be a horrible experience for all the passengers, including the complainants, for (sic) travelling from Chandigarh to New Delhi in a closed suffocating bus with fixed glass window panes as it was an AC (vehicle). Bus with non-functional ACs. It is important to note that there is a duty upon the General Manager, Haryana roadways, and the officials working under him to maintain (a) trouble free service… and condition of the buses plied by them to which they have miserably failed…”
The forum further stated in the order that the act of Haryana transport department, in forcing the complainants, along with other passengers, to travel in a condition worse than ordinary buses on an extremely hot day of June proves unfair trade practice and deficiency in service on their part.