JETLITE ASKED TO PAY Rs. 2 LAKH TO A PASSENGER

Low-fare airline JetLite has been directed by a consumer forum here to pay Rs 2 lakh as compensation to a flyer, who could not travel from Delhi to Hazaribagh in Jharkhand for a family function because of sudden cancellation of his flight. New Delhi Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum directed the airline to compensate for the harassment caused to Vinod Kumar Singhal and his seven family members in February 2007 and pulled it up for citing fog as a reason for cancellation of the flight. "It appears that opposite party (JetLite) is taking shelter of early morning fog conditions with weather report," a bench presided by Justice C K Chaturvedi said, while noting that the first reply of the airline did not mention fog as reason for cancellation of flight. "... It rather states that there was heavy technical snag, which technician failed to record, in short time. "The fog report does not indicate the timing of fog, situation hourly. But for the snag, the flight would have left earlier, thereby casting doubts on foggy situation," the forum said. "In such a case of cancellation of journey, it cannot be said that cancellation was for reasons beyond the control of OP. It is due to reasons of its own staff or maintenance," the bench also comprising member S R Chaudhary said. The forum awarded lump sum compensation of Rs 1.5 lakh to Singhal and his family for all the inconvenience and harassment along with litigation expenses of Rs 50,000. Singhal had approached the forum with a complaint that his flight from Delhi to Hazaribagh on February 17, 2007 was cancelled after he had reached the airport with his family, due to which he had to travel by car and cancel a family function. The airline, in its reply, had said that it had to be cancelled due to fog conditions.