Missed NEET due to train delay: Consumer court slaps Rs 9.1 lakh compensation on Railways
Compensation
Basti: In a recent judgment, the District Consumer Court has slapped Rs 9,10,000 compensation on the railways after a medical aspirant filed a case and claimed that she missed her opportunity to appear in the National Eligibility Entrance Test, NEET, exam due to the delayed arrival of the Intercity Superfast Train.
After finding her allegations to be true, the Consumer Forum imposed a heavy fine of Rs 9,10,000 on the railways, ETV Bharat has reported.
The concerned medical aspirant hails from Pikaura Baks locality in the Kotwali police station area. She was about to appear in the NEET exam and for this, she was allotted an examination centre at Jaynarayan PG College in Lucknow.
In order to reach the exam centre on time, the complainant bought a train ticket for the Intercity Superfast train from Basti and the scheduled arrival time was 11 a.m.
However, allegedly, the train arrived in Lucknow around two and a half hours late and due to this, the student could reach the examination hall only by 12:30 pm. Therefore, she lost her opportunity to appear in the exam.
As per the latest media report by ETV Bharat, aggrieved by this, the student approached the Consumer Commission. Noting that the railways had to bear the consequences. In its order, the District Consumer Commission president and Judge Amarjeet Verma and member Ajay Prakash Singh imposed a total fine of Rs. 9,10,000 on the railways.
Further, the court ordered that if the railways failed to pay the compensation on time, it will have to pay an additional 12 per cent interest on the payment amount to the consumer.
Commenting on the matter, the Advocate Prabhakar Mishra told the daily, "Samriddhi went to Lucknow on May 7, 2018, to appear for the NEET exam. Due to the train delay, she could not reach the exam centre, and her academic year was wasted. Samriddhi filed a case through me in the District Consumer Commission. Notices were sent to the Ministry of Railways, the general manager of railways, and the station superintendent, but no reply was received.
The case was filed in the court on September 11, 2018. The commission heard both sides, and the railways admitted to the train delay but did not clarify the reason for the delay. The court imposed a fine and directed the railways to pay Rs 9,10,000 within 45 days."
