Travel company asked to pay Rs 3.25 lakh to senior citizen for deficiency in service

New Delhi, Oct 11 (PTI) The central Delhi District Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum has directed a travel and tour company to refund Rs 3.25 lakh to a senior citizen, and pay a fine of Rs 25,000 for causing her mental agony and harassment.
    The Central Delhi Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum's bench comprising president Inder Jeet Singh and member Rashmi Bansal was hearing a complaint alleging deficiency in service by the tour operator for its failure to refund the amount for a cancelled tour and travel package in 2021.
    The complainant, Anjani V Raghavan, said she had booked a 15-day senior citizen's package -- 'Scandinavian Midnight Sun' -- from Bunk Tribe Private Limited for Rs 3.25 lakh but the tour was cancelled owing to the COVID-19 pandemic and the travel company did not refund her the amount.
    Raghavan had sent a legal notice to the company on May 18, 2021, following which the company sought two more months to process the refund, citing financial difficulties. The woman, however, did not receive the refund prompting her to move the consumer forum.
    Considering the evidence on record, the forum observed that though Rs 3.25 lakh was paid to Bunk Tribe Pvt Ltd through the bank account of one Dehaat Store Pvt Ltd. by the woman, she was not refunded the money after the tour was cancelled.
    "It constitutes a clear and unequivocal deficiency in service on the part of Bunk Tribe and Dehaat Store making them jointly and severally liable to refund the said amount, to the complainant," the forum said in an order passed in August, and made available recently.
    The forum further noted that the complainant was a senior citizen who suffered due to the "gross deficiency in service" and had to be compensated for her mental agony and harassment.
     "The inaction of opposite parties even after the pandemic subsided, and passing of a long time, entitles the complainant to compensation to be consonance with the situation involved, which is determined for Rs 25,000," it held.
     The guilty parties were further directed to pay Rs 15,000 towards litigation costs. PTI MNR AMK MNR AMK TIR
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(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)