A.PANNEER vs NEPC AIRLINES

THE complainant who has lost his case before the District Forum is the appellant. THE complainant was to travel in the Aircraft of the opposite party from Madras to Hyderabad on 11.3.1996 for which he had purchased a ticket. His case is that he was in the airport at 5.45 a.m. THE commencement time of the flight was 6.45 a.m. but after some time it was announced that there would be a delay of one hour and then actually the flight took off only at 9.50 a.m. Thus there was a delay in the commencement of the flight and on account of that he could not reach his destination in time and due to the considerable delay he was much inconvenienced and he was put to hard ship and loss. Alleging deficiency in service on the part of the opposite party the complaint was filed.

THE opposite party contended that there were 3 flights from Madras, one to Coimbatore, another to Hyderabad and the third one to Madurai. THE Coimbatore flight was to commence from Madras at 6 a.m. and the Hyderabad flight at 6.45 am. and the Madurai flight at 6 a.m. It so happened that there was a technical snag in the aircraft which was to go to Coimbatore and it appeared that it would take one hour to rectify. THErefore the Hyderabad flight was diverted to Coimbatore. THE Madurai flight came to Madras at 8.45 a.m. and that flight was diverted to Hyderabad at 9.50 a.m. Thus the delay occurred in the Hyderabad flight. THEre was no deficiency in service on the part of the opposite parties. Hence no liability can be claimed from them. The District Forum on consideration of the evidence accepted the case of the opposite party and holding that there was no deficiency in service dismissed the complaint.

Now in the appeal after hearing both sides we find no compelling reasons to differ from the finding of the District Forum. It is not in dispute that there was a technical snag in the Coimbatore flight and that was the reason for the delay of the Hyderabad flight. The learned Counsel appearing for the respondent/opposite party would contend that the carrier had reserved their right to cancel the flight or delay the commencement or continuance of the flight. In this connection, he brought to our notice the writings in the ticket which are excerpts from regulations. Indeed the Regulation (1) written in the ticket reads as follows : "The Company reserves to itself the right without assigning any reason to cancel or delay the commencement or continuance of the flight or to alter the stopping place or to deviate from the route of the journey or to change the type of aircraft in use without thereby incurring any liability in damages or otherwise to the passengers or any other person on any ground whatsoever. The Company also reserves to itself the right to refuse to carry any person whom it considers unfit to travel or who in the opinion of the Company may constitute risks to the aircraft or to the persons on board."

In this circumstance we agree with the District Forum that there was no deficiency in service on the part of the opposite party. 5.Hence the appeal is dismissed. However there will be no order as to costs. Appeal dismissed. ______________