The railway has a duty to provide certain facilities to passengers, such as affixing the reservation chart on time, mentioning the position of the coach from the engine, keeping the entrance gate of the AC II tier part of the coach open, making the conductor available, and providing the complaint book. The railway's failure to provide these facilities amounts to a deficiency in service.

Mr. N.K. Vaidya, Member — This is an appeal against the order dated 24th August, 1995 passed by District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Bhopal in their Case No. 29/95 wherein the District Forum allowed the complaint of the complainant and ordered the opposite parties to pay Rs. 300/- and cost of proceedings Rs. 50/- to the complainant within one month of the receipt of the order for the inconvenience faced by him and his family members during their Journey from Bhopal to New Delhi on 21.12.94. The appellants has filed this appeal for enhancement of compensation on the ground that the District Forum did not consider all the grievances pointed out by him in his complaint. Heard the arguments of both the parties and perused the record of the case.

2. The undisputed facts of the case are that the complainant along with his wife and two children travelled from Bhopal to New Delhi on the night of 21.12.94 by C.T. Express in AC II tier compartment. The train on that day arrived at 12.50 past mid night and he travelled in coach No. 7776 which was a composite coach half being AC 1st class and half being AC IInd class.

3. The complainant alleged following deficiencies in his complaint :

(i) That the arrival time of the train is 12.05 but the reservation chart was not affixed on the Board till 12.05 whereas it should have been affixed one hour before arrival time of the train. Reservation chart was affixed round about 12.10.

(ii) That it was not mentioned in the reservation chart as to what was the position of the coach in the train i.e. which number bogie from engine and since usually AC coach remains at the end of the train and this time it was at No. 2 or 3 from the engine, they faced lot of trouble in running down to the coach for a long distance.

(iii) That the entrance gate of AC II tier part of the coach was closed and, therefore, they had to enter through the entrance gate of AC 1st class part of the coach wherein the corridor was jam packed as a number of people had come to see off a VIP who was travelling in it. Hence it was with great difficulty that they could reach their berths and amidst the melee they lost one quilt and faced great physical discomfort.

(iv) That the Conductor of the coach came 15 minutes after the departure of the train.

(v) That when he wanted to report the matter in writing, he could not get complaint book.

4. In reply, the opposite party the Central Railway stated that the reservation chart was affixed and the position of the coach from engine was displayed as "second ". That the complainant wrongly saw the chart of previous date. That it is wrong to say that chart was affixed at 12.10 hours. That one door of the coach was closed from safety point of view. That there was no reservation for any VIP in AC 1st class.

5. Besides this the Counsel for the respondent-Central Railway further argued that the complainant did not give his residential address, but gave his address as Secretary, Human Rights Commission, to influence the Consumer Disputes Redressal Agencies. That the facilities of affixtion of reservation chart etc. are provided not under any rule and law but as a good gesture for the convenience of the passengers.

6. So far as reservation facilities are concerned, the facilities provided by the Railway. are invariably mentioned in each and every Time Table published by Central Railway. For the year 1994, in the Central Railway Time Table, giving train timings from 1st July, 1994 the information on reservation given, in para 19 of the Time Table states the duties of Conductor as below :

"To direct and assist upper class passengers joining at intermediate stations in finding accommodation in the compartment where room is available for them."

In para 20 the duty list of coach attendant mentions as under in Sub-paras-3 and 4 :

"(3) To keep compartment locked when the train is on run and open them for occupation as and when required.

(4) To prevent entry of unauthorised passengers in