Briefly stated, the complainant made booking of Bus, Air Ticket as well as Hotel for his visit
to Nepal, Kathmandu, through Go Ibibo for the period 23.2.2018 to 26.2.2018. The complainant made booking of Bus Tickets through Opposite Parties on 23.2.2018 from Chandigarh to New Delhi through OPs website postal, but when no confirmation was received, on the instruction of OPs, he again made booking of the bus travel from Chandigarh to New Delhi for 23.2.2018. Later the complainant received two bookings of the bus through Ops website for 23.2.2018, one Bus was to depart from Sector 43, Chandigarh (Ann.C-7) and against rebooking, the Bus was shown to depart from Sethi Dhaba, Zirakpur (Ann.C-8), but the departure time of booth the said buses was shown to be same as 11.59 PM. It is averred that the Opposite Parties for the said booking charged Rs.799/- and Rs.790/- respectively. The complainant requested the Opposite Parties to cancel his booking for one of the bus, but they did not do so.
Ultimately, the complainant on the asking of OPs waited for the Bus on 23.2.2018 at
Sethi Dhaba, Zirakpur, but the bus did not reach there at the scheduled time of 11.59 PM and when the complainant contacted the Opposite Parties, they informed that the Bus would reach there at 02.00 A.M. and he has been intimated wrong timings about the bus. Left with no alternative, as the complainant was to attend some meeting at Delhi, he hired the Taxi to reach Delhi by spending extra amount of Rs.4000/-.
After reaching Delhi, the complainant boarded the Flight to Kathmandu and reached there, but upon reaching the Hotel, which too was booked through OPs, the Hotel Front desk representative informed the complainant that no such booking has been intimated by GoIBIBO to them. The complainant tried to contact the Opposite Parties, but they did not respond, as such the complainant had to pay Hotel Booking @Rs.4000/- per day despite being paid earlier while making booking through GoIBIBO and as such has to incur additional expenses over and above which was already paid while booking. It is averred that the complainant has suffered a lot of mental and physical harassment as well as financial loss due to above deficient act & conduct of the Opposite Parties. The complainant also sent legal notice to the OPs, but to no avail. Hence, this complaint.
The Opposite Parties No.1 to 4 filed joint reply and while admitting the factual matrix
of the case, stated that they were merely the facilitator for booking the confirmed tickets for the
complainant and the complainant himself has duly consented to adhere the terms of cancellation
policy of the Opposite Parties. They denied that the complainant did not receive the confirmation message on the cell phone. It is submitted that as per the cancellation Go Ibibo argued that
the complainant requested for cancellation and refund of ticket during the said period of 2/23/18 11:55 AM and 2/23/18 11:55 PM, hence he is not entitled for any refund. They also argued that the complainant failed to make the bus service provider as well as Hotelier as Parties to the present complaint despite having grievance against them and that it is the Hotelier who failed to close the inventory despite being aware of the fact that his hotel is completely booked at his end and hence the liability if any is there at the end of concerned Hotel and not of the Opposite Parties. Denying all other allegations
and pleading no deficiency in service, the Opposite Parties have prayed for dismissal of the
complaint.
After perusing the arguments, the Forum observed and decided as follows:
The Opposite Parties admitted to have received the amount i.e. Rs.790/- & Rs.799/-, double
booking of bus for travel from Chandigarh to Delhi for 23.2.2018 and also Rs.4439/- for Hotel
Booking at Kathmandu for 24.2.2018, but despite their failure to provide the service to the
complainant, has opposed the present complaint mainly on the ground that the Travel Agency (Bus
Operator) as well as Hotel Management, are not under their administrative control. The OPs have
entered into the market to facilitate providing of services for tour to the individual on receipt of
money. They earn profit out of the bookings, but do not accept any accountability in case of any
failure or discrepancy or deficiency in said services, as promised with the customers by them at the
time of booking. Such callous attitude on the part of the Opposite Parties is highly condemnable
and cannot be overlooked. The Opposite Parties are responsible on principle of vicarious liability
for all acts & omissions on the part of its subsidiary units/service provider.
Keeping into view the facts under consideration, as discussed in the preceding paragraphs,
the Opposite Parties are found to be deficient in their service and therefore liable to compensate the
complainant adequately for mental agony and harassment caused to him. Hence, the complaint is
allowed with direction to the Opposite Parties to jointly & severally refund to the complainant an
amount of Rs.6028/- (790+799+4439) along with interest @12% p.a. w.e.f. 23.2.2018 till
realization, along with compensatory cost of Rs.20,000/- and litigation cost of Rs.10,000/-.
The Opposite Parties shall comply with this order within a period of 30 days from the date of
receipt of copy of this order, failing which they shall be liable to pay additional penal
compensatory cost of Rs.10,000/-besides the above relief.
Announced
19 th August, 2019
(Sunil Kumar, Bathinda Vs. M/s Ibibo Group Pvt. Ltd., (GoIBIBO)
BEFORE: SMT.PRITI MALHOTRA PRESIDING MEMBER
SH.RAVINDER SINGH MEMBER
For Complainant : Complainant in person.
For Opposite Party : Sh.Nitin Bhasin & Sh.Rohit Goswami Advocate
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