In a major consumer court judgment that will have wide ramifications on travel companies and bus operators, the Mumbai Suburban District Consumer Commission in an order last Thursday has awarded Rs 2 lakhs as compensation plus costs to a passenger who was the victim of “inhuman treatment” by a travel website and a bus-operating company. On December 12, 2018, the passenger, Shekhar Hattangadi, a senior citizen with medical issues, pre-booked a luxury bus ticket for a Surat-Mumbai trip on the online Travelyaari website, and was assigned to travel in a bus operated on that route by Paulo Travels headquartered in Panaji, Goa.

“My travails began even before I could begin the journey. Being not informed about the precise pickup spot in Surat, I barely managed to board the bus at the last minute after an anxious run-around. Then I settled into the seat only after the driver checked the ticket while boarding,” Hattangadi said. “Then, midway through the journey I was shockingly asked to deboard at a remote spot near Chinchoti village (more than 50 km from Mumbai) on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway in the dead of night,” he said.