Mr. Justice S. Parvatha Rao, President — The opposite parties in O.P. No. 335/1996 i.e. (1) The Chairman, Railway Board, New Delhi, and (2) The General Manager, South Central Railways, Secunderabad preferred this appeal questioning the order of the District Forum, East Godavari dated 27.3.1998 allowing the O.P. and directing the Railway Authorities to remove the defects or deficiencies in service in question by providing number plates to the sleeper coaches of all express trains within 30 days from the date of the order. The respondents before us were the complainants in the original petition. The respondents 2 and 3 claim to be senior citizens while the first respondent, it is stated, is aged about 64 years. The fourth respondent is Kakinada Consumers Association represented by its Secretary. They complain that on 7.9.1996, when respondents 1 to 3 had to travel from Palasa to Secunderabad by express train, after the train arrived, they found no coach bearing S-9 in which they were allocated berths and that they had to run from one end to the other in search of the compartment and had great difficulty in finding it. Their trouble knew no bounds because it was also raining at that time and they were drenched apart from the tension they had to suffer. They approached the District Forum by way of the present O.P. contending that there was no un-surmountable difficulty for the Railway Administration to provide metal number plates to each sleeper coach so that passengers could locate the particular coach without loss of time and without being subjected to hardship, tension, and strain both mental and physical. The trouble would arise when the coach numbers written in chalk or on paper pasting to the coach especially when it rains, as they get wiped out or lost. The first petitioner, who was a member of the Station Consultative and the Divisional Railway Users Committee, raised this issue in that Committee. But the Railways did not respond nor understood the difficulty in proper perspective.

2. The Railways submitted that the train in question ran between Palasa in South Eastern Railway to Secunderabad in South Central Railway and it was formed at Palasa and as it proceeded to Visakhapatnam the coaches would be put in ascending order and at Visakhapatnam Junction, the direction changed and consequently the coaches automatically changed to the descending order; as a result, the location of the coaches also changed. It is also contended that the number slips were pasted on all the coaches and that there was no difficulty in locating the particular coach, that the suggestion regarding number plates provision was not practicable as there would be change of coaches from time to time due to mechanical and operational reasons. When the first petitioner made this impracticable suggestion in the meeting, he was explained, and he was satisfied that the suggestion was impracticable.

3. The District Forum held as follows in the order under appeal:

"He (the learned Counsel for the petitioners), further stressed that on that day, 7.9.1996 there is heavy rain and the slip said to have been pasted to the compartment and the writings with the chalk piece were washed away and the petitioners were obliged to run from one side to the other for reaching the coach drenching in rain. This allegation was not traversed by the respondents. In most of the long distance express trains bound to metropolitan cities, the Railways used to place iron or metallic plates in slot whereas in the case of 7015 Visakha Express from Palasa to Secunderabad, the respondent Railways expressed their inability stating that the number plate provision is not practicable as there will be change of coaches from time to time due to mechanical and operational reasons. We are of the opinion that the request of the petitioners for a provision of number plates in place of pasting the slips or writing on the coaches with chalk piece is reasonable. Non-fixing of or providing of number p