Legal Notice for refund of fare charged twice for single journey
This has reference to the tatkal E-ticket with PNR No.: 8460377798 booked in the name of Mr. Surender, (Age 53), Mrs. Arvinder (Age 48) and Aman (Age 13) trough transaction ID no. 0170137009 (Rupees 4179) on IRCTC on 25-12-09 for journey on 27-12-09 from Bhusaval to Chennai in 3rd AC of Train no. 2655, NAVJEEVAN EXP Pursuant to above booking a confirm berth no. 1, 2 in Coach No. B-1 and berth no. 41 in Coach No. B-2 of the said Train was allotted to Mr. Surender, Mrs Arvinder and Mr. Aman. However, due to inadvertent mistake, Mr. Surender carried a Xerox of his Driving License and Voter ID with him and the same was realized by Mr. Surender while the ID proof was asked by TC (Billa No. 149) at Bhusaval Station. Accordingly, TC has collected Rs.4590/- vide receipt no. H422017 dated 27 December (the Receipt) from Mr. Surender.
However, TC has tried to do mental harassment to Mr. Surender by saying
1) If the penalty amount is not paid now, then the amount will become non-refundable amount latter, as TC will do an e-complaint.
2) The Next staff which will come on TC e complaint will bring the railway police and may ask to leave the train or may take them to jail.
With the above statement from TC has left with no other decision to pay the fine, as TC was always mentioning that this will be refundable at ur Home town.
From the above incidence I have following contentions.
1. TC has denied the fact that the passenger was traveling without ticket, as he has accepted the above mentioned E-ticket shown to him by the passenger Mr. Surender. Further, he has also not denied the fact that the passenger who was traveling with the said ticket is Mr. Surender as having the Xerox of all the ID proofs. The same can be evident from the Receipt issued by TC wherein the name of the passenger “Mr. Surender” carrying E-ticket is mentioned. Accordingly, it is baseless to say that Mr. Surender was traveling without ticket.
2. In fact, admittedly, TC has accepted the fact that the person traveling by the said E-ticket is the same for whom the E-ticket was purchased, as TC has mentioned the name of passenger Mr. Surender in the Receipt. Hence, it is beyond any doubts that the passenger who is traveling with the said E-ticket is Mr. Surender, then why Mr. Surender shall be liable for payment of any fine, penalties, etc. for not carrying ID proof even when TC has also identified him as Mr. Surender. Hence, the Indian Railway / TC is not entitled for collecting any sum from Mr. Surender either by way of penalty for not carrying the ID Card or by way of any other charges or otherwise, since Mr. Surender traveled perfectly in compliance of all the applicable rules governing his journey.
3. Further, it is also evident from the Receipt that TC has erroneously and prejudicially collected from Mr. Surender a sum of Rs.4590/-. Here, I would like to contend that in any eventuality, any passenger not carrying valid ID proof with E- ticket is a technical default and should be liable for penalty and not liable Fare or Excess Fare. It is evident that TC has erroneously, illegally recovered the money from Mr. Surender for unknown reasons.
4. I would also like to contend that asking for ID proof from the passenger who books the tickets though E-ticket mechanism provided by the Indian Railway is discriminatory, though additional service charges are paid for E-ticket, vis-à-vis the passengers traveling in the same class and in the same train but having tickets other than E-tickets. It is violation of the constitutional rights of citizen of India, of being treated equally with the other passengers traveling in the same class and in the same Train. Further carrying ID proof has also put an additional burden on the passengers (even though having paid extra amount to Indian railway by way of service charges) and causing unnecessary and avoidable difficulties to the genuine passenger.
5. It is beyond my understanding and I finds it difficult to digest the intentions to be achieved by the Indian Railway by asking for proof of ID of a passenger carrying E-ticket, specially in the given instance, while on the one hand the authority denies the fact that the passenger not carrying valid ID card is not the same passenger in whose name the ticket is issued and on the other hand while issuing the Receipt for not carrying the ID proof, the authority / TC recognizes and accepts the fact that the passenger is Mr. Surender. It is beyond anybodies capacity to understand this anomaly on the part of the Indian Railway.
6. Form whatever stated above, it is clear that Indian Railway has unjustifiably and illegally collected Rs.4590/- from the passenger Mr. Surender. This has gained the Indian Railway an unjust enrichment of Rs.4590/- by collecting Rs.4590/- (Rs.3840 Rs.750/- of E-ticket) from Mr. Surender for the same journey, in same time, in the same train and in the same class, whereas other travelers have been charged fare as actual for alike journey. The most important thing here is that the person who was traveling was carrying the ticket issued in his name and not traveling without ticket and should have been treated at par with the other passengers who have bought the ticket from the railway counter. Whatever has been done by or on behalf of the Indian Railway in this matter is purely against the law of equality, natural justice, public policy and public interest.
7. In all equalities, I request you to refund the amount either of an E-ticket of Rs.4179/- or the amount of Rs.4590/- recovered by TC and send the same to Mr. Surender having his address at B-4, Anand Nagar, Near NCC Office, Khandwa 450001.(09962322666) as the railway authority cannot charge twice the same person for the same journey having same time, same length of travel in the same class of the same train. Is it not against the principal of unjust enrichment, public policy, public interest?
8. In case, you think otherwise then I will be left with no other options but to take recourse to the appropriate judicial authority for recovering the above said amount plus compensation to which Mr. Surender is legally entitled to.
Thanking you
For and on behalf Mr. Gurdeep Singh Pahwa
09962322666
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