Tungnath Chaturvedi paid an excessive Rs 20 for two train tickets in Mathura in 1999. On August 5, a consumer court ordered Railways to restore the money with interest and pay a fine of Rs. 15,000.
On December 25, 1999, Tungnath Chaturvedi approached the Mathura Cantonment railway station's ticket counter to purchase two tickets to Moradabad.
At the time, a single ticket cost Rs 35. Chaturvedi handed a hundred rupee note to the window clerk. But he only received Rs 10 back, not the expected Rs 30.
After that, Chaturvedi, naming the Mathura Cantonment railway station as a party and accusing "North East Railway" (Gorakhpur) and "booking clerk" as defendants.
What ensued was a legal dispute that spanned over a hundred court appearances and seemed to go on forever. But now, over 22 years after filing a lawsuit against them for Rs 20
The Indian Railways were ordered to pay the attorney the twenty rupees within 30 days with interest at a rate of 12% each year from 1999 to 2022,
according to Navneet Kumar, president of the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Matura.
In addition to paying legal fees, the railways must also pay a fine of Rs. 15,000 to make up for the hardship the plaintiff had financially and psychologically.
Additionally, Kumar ruled that the interest rate would be increased to 15% per year if the aforementioned sum was not paid within a month.
Chaturvedi, 66, believes the compensation figure is modest and doesn't nearly make up for the years he spent pursuing the case
India's consumer courts handle complaints involving services. But because they are overworked, it can occasionally take them years to pass orders