STATE CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION, PUNJAB, CHANDIGARH

1)

Misc. Application No.397 of 2021 In/and First Appeal No.94 of 2021 Date of Institution : 30.03.2021 Date of Reserve : 17.05.2022 Date of Decision : 13.06.2022 Chief Executive Officer, Corporate Office, Indigo Airlines, Level-I, Tower-C, Global Business Park, Mehrauli-Gurgaon Road, Gurgaon-122002 (Haryana)

……Appellant/Opposite Party Versus Nirmal Kumar Bhalla, S/o Sh.Ram Sarup Bhalla, R/o House No.1084, Urban Estate, Phase-2, Patiala.

…..Respondent/Complainant

2)

First Appeal No.279 of 2021 Date of Institution : 11.08.2021 Date of Reserve : 17.05.2022 Date of Decision : 13.06.2022 Nirmal Kumar Bhalla, 67 years, S/o Sh.Ram Sarup Bhalla, r/o H.No.1084, Urban Estate, Phase-2, Patiala.

……Appellant/Complainant Versus Chief Executive Officer, Corporate Office, Indigo Airlines, Level 1, Tower C, Global Business Park, Mehrauli-Gurgaon Road, -122002 (Haryana)

…..Respondent/Opposite party First Appeals under Section 41 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 against the order dated 10.02.2021 of the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Patiala.

Quorum:-

Hon’ble Mrs. Justice Daya Chaudhary, President Mr.Rajinder Kumar Goyal, Member Mrs.Urvashi Agnihotri, Member Present (FA No.94 of 2021):-

For the appellant : Sh.Amandeep Singh, Advocate For the respondent : Sh.Sukhandeep Singh, Advocate RAJINDER KUMAR GOYAL, MEMBER This order will dispose of two cross appeals, which have been preferred against the same order dated 10.02.2021 passed in C.C No.124 of 2018 by District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, (now ‘Commission’), Patiala (in short, “the District Commission”), whereby the complaint filed by the complainant, under Section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 (in short ‘the Act’), was partly allowed and the opposite party was directed to pay Rs.25,000/- as compensation to the complainant for causing harassment and mental agony along with Rs.10,000/- as litigation expenses.

2. Facts are taken from F.A. No.94 of 2021. It would be apposite to mention that hereinafter the parties will be referred, as have been arrayed before the District Commission.

M.A. No.397 of 2021 (For Addl. Documents)

3. This application has been filed by the appellant/opposite party for placing on record the screenshots of the official record of the appellant maintained in the ordinary course of business as Annexure A-5 and A-7.

4. For the reasons stated therein, the application is allowed and the documents placed along with the application are taken on the record. Main Case

5. As per averments made in the complaint, the complainant booked an online ticket from Patiala on 15.11.2017 with Indigo Airlines for travelling from Delhi to Kochi (Kerala). The Flight No.6E 315 was to take off on 10.02.2018 from Delhi at 0535 hours and from Kochi to Delhi, flight No.6E 369 was to take off on 15.02.2018 at 1200 hours- via Bengaluru reaching Delhi at 19:35 hours, vide PNR No.PFNMJQ. The complainant boarded the Flight No.6E 315 on 10.02.2018 at 0535 hours and reached Kochi. On 12.02.2018, while the complainant was at Kochi, came to know from some other person that the flight No.6E 369 for Delhi had been cancelled by the Airlines from Bangalore to Delhi. No intimation was given by the opposite party-airlines about the cancellation of flight from Bengalore to Delhi onwards. The complainant immediately contacted the airlines on the given numbers and enquired about the cancellation and came to know that the flight had been cancelled from Bangalore to Delhi. The complainant paid a sum of Rs.8,098/- to the opposite party through Credit Card on 05.11.2017 i.e. more than three months prior to the flight. Due to sudden cancellation of flight, the complainant had to face a lot of inconvenience and difficulties in making alternate arrangements for reaching to Delhi through other means of transport and also missed some important appointments and also suffered monetary loss and got mentally and physically harassment. A notice