Action taken report on complaint regarding an error in E-ticket
23 Mar, 2013Background
The appellant filed two identical applications under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, one with the Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation Ltd (IRCTC) and the second with the NW Railway. In both the applications, he sought the action taken report on the complaint that he had filed with respect to an error in E-ticket which he had purchased through an agent of IRCTC. The Public Information Officer (PIO) of IRCTC provided some information and informed the appellant that the remaining information pertains to Western Railway. The PIO of NW Railway transferred the application to the WC Railway Jabalpur stating that the TTE who was involved belongs to that particular zone. On not receiving any reply from the PIO [WC Railway], the appellant filed a complaint with the Commission seeking the information and demanding refund of the expenses incurred by him on the ticket since no berth was given to him.
Proceedings
During the hearing before the Central Information Commission (CIC), the respondent explained that due to some fault of the printer the berth number that was actually 12 was shown to be “1”. Accordingly the appellant had tried to occupy the berth no. “1” but was stopped from doing so by the TTE because that berth belonged to some other passenger. The appellant was not allowed to occupy berth no. 12 as it might have been allotted to the next waiting list passenger since the seat remained unoccupied.
View of CIC
The Commission observed that the appellant has approached the Commission directly without availing the First Appellate Authority (FAA) channel available to him. The CIC directed the PIO, IRCTC to transfer the complete file related to the complaint to the FAA, WC Railway along with the decision of the Commission directing the FAA to treat the applicant’s complaint to the Commission as first appeal and decide the matter and issue a speaking order.
Comment
Under the RTI Act, an applicant can seek information, but not redressal of grievance. However, unlike an appeal, a complaint is expected to be decided by the Commission. Instead of remanding it to the First Appellate Authority (FAA), the CIC bench should have taken a clear decision on the issue.
Citation: Mr. V N Pareek v. Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corpn. Ltd in File No: CIC/AD/C/2012/001467
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2013/CIC/1145
Click here to view original RTI order of Court / Information Commission