Odisha's Balangir district consumer forum ordered Indian Railways on April 18 to pay ₹1.3 lakh to a passenger who missed a connecting flight due to a nearly seven-hour train delay in 2024. The amount covers losses, mental agony, litigation costs, and penalties for delayed compliance. The passenger received the payment on April 19.
Chandi Prasad Khamari filed a complaint under the Consumer Protection Act after missing his flight. He had booked tickets for train No. 12129 from Jharsuguda to Howrah on August 23, 2024. The train was scheduled to depart Jharsuguda at 7.50pm and arrive at Howrah at 3.55am, providing nearly four hours buffer for his 8.05am flight to Guwahati.
The train departed two hours late and arrived nearly seven hours behind schedule, causing Khamari to miss the flight and incur rebooking costs. He alleged financial losses, stress, and harassment after unsuccessful representations to railway authorities. Railways argued that punctuality is not guaranteed under IRCA coaching tariff provisions and delays can occur due to operational factors.
The Balangir district consumer forum rejected these claims, holding railways accountable as a unified public utility. Citing the Supreme Court judgment in Northern Western Railway and Another v. Sanjay Shukla, it said delays must be proven unavoidable. It initially ordered ₹20,000 for flight losses, ₹30,000 for mental agony, and ₹5,000 for litigation costs.
Railways failed to comply within 30 days, incurring ₹500 daily penalties. With over 200 days' delay, the total reached approximately ₹1.3 lakh, paid to Khamari on April 19. The forum emphasized that public utilities like railways must prevent avoidable delays to meet passengers' reasonable expectations.
