The Commission also imposed a cost of Rs 5,000 on the Railway for filing a 'frivolous' appeal against the lower forum's decision.
Northern Railway has been directed by the Delhi State Consumer Commission to pay a compensation of Rs 50,000 for wrongfully penalising a passenger travelling with a wait-listed ticket.
The Commission also imposed a cost of Rs 5,000 on the Railway for filing a "frivolous" appeal against the lower forum's decision.
The Train Superintendent (TSI), who initially permitted the passenger to board the train as four vacant seats were available with him, did not confirm the wait-list ticket and instead imposed penalty on him.
"The Northern Railway is vicariously liable for misconduct of TSI Ramesh Kumar and hence we find no fault with the impugned order whereby they have been directed to refund the penalty imposed upon the passenger and also to pay compensation of Rs 50,000 for the harassment and mental agony caused to him," the Commission bench headed by Justice B A Zaidi said.
It passed the order on an appeal of the Railway challenging District Forum's direction to pay the compensation besides refunding the imposed penalty.
"The order of the Forum is quite justified and we find no merit in the appeal. It is, therefore, dismissed with a cost of Rs 5,000 for filing a frivolous appeal," the Commission said.
The Commission said that non allotment of seat to the passenger despite he being the only wait-list passenger "clearly showed malafide on the part of TSI".
The passenger was forced to pay the penalty at Allahabad under threat of detention by the RPF on the instruction of the TSI.
Earlier, the Railways cited policy instructions regarding Rajdhani and Shatabdi Express trains to justify charging of penalty from the passenger who had boarded the train with a wait-listed ticket.
The Commission, however, said that the passenger had taken permission from the appropriate authority to aboard the train.
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