Supreme Courts Sets Aside NCDRC’s Order: Railways Cannot be Held Responsible for Passenger’s Theft of Belongingness

Supreme Courts Sets Aside NCDRC’s Order: Railways Cannot be Held Responsible for Passenger’s Theft of Belongingness

The Supreme Court while setting aside the order passed by the National Consumer Dispute Redressal Commissions (NCDRC) held that Railways cannot be held responsible, if the passenger is not able to protect his own belongings.

The division judges’ bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Ahsanuddin Amanullah held that the theft of personal belongings of a Passenger cannot be termed as ‘deficiency of service’ by Railways.

In the present case Mr. Surender Bhola (‘Respondent/Passenger’) was travelling through Indian Railways train and was carrying Rs. 1 lakh in cash in a belt tied around his waist.

The cash got stolen from the Passenger during the train journey. The Passenger filed a claim before the District Consumer Forum, seeking reimbursement of the stolen amount from the Railways. It was argued that the theft of money had taken place due to deficiency in service provided by Railways.

The District Consumer Forum allowed the claim and directed Railways to reimburse Rs. 1 Lakh to the Respondent.

Following which, the State Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission and the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) dismissed the appeals and upheld the order of District Consumer Forum.

The Apex Court held that theft of personal belongings of the Passenger does not fall within ‘deficiency of service’ by Railways.

The Court remarked, “We fail to understand as to how the theft could be said to be in any way a deficiency in service by the Railways. If the passenger is not able to protect his own belongings, the Railways cannot be held responsible.”

Accordingly, the bench set aside the orders passed by the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, State Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission and the District Consumer Forum.

The appeal was allowed.