A consumer court has directed the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) to pay Rs 4,000 to passengers for causing inconvenience during their travel from Bengaluru to Gonikoppa, Kodagu district.

The complainant, Brigadier P P Ganapathy, said the KSRTC had caused inconvenience to him, his wife and fellow passengers in May 2018 when they travelled by an Airavata bus. 

He said the bus arrived late by more than an hour to the bus stand. Despite Airavata being an air-conditioned bus, it was very hot inside and the crew on the bus did nothing to comfort the passengers. 

The bus developed minor vacuum leak and, after reaching Mysuru, it was taken to the depot at around 3 pm. When the passengers wanted to break for lunch at Mysuru, the crew did not oblige and said they would stop at Panchavalli and arrived there only at 4.40 pm.

In the return journey, the Airavata bus arrived late by 95 minutes. Passengers tried to find out the cause of the delay but found no one to answer their calls. The crew failed to inform the passengers about the delay, though they had sufficient time. 

The KSRTC’s Chief Traffic Manager and Divisional Traffic Manager responded to the complaint by saying the bus developed a mechanical defect. The transport company pointed out that it received 35 national and international awards for their services, saying the deficient service was due to the assignment of their staffers to poll duties. 

The Additional District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum headed by its president H R Srinivas and member D Suresh, in its January 31, 2018, order, said they could understand the passengers’ plight when they were forced to wait for several hours for the bus to arrive. 

The court said delaying the lunch could have caused serious harm to passengers, especially if they happened to have diabetes or hypertension. 

Warning the transporter against causing such inconveniences in future, the court asked the KSRTC to pay a global compensation of
Rs 2,000 and litigation charges of Rs 2,000. It asked the company to comply with its order in 30 days.