The Malaysian Airlines has been asked by a consumer forum here to pay Rs 20,000 to an advocate for making him travel all the way from Ludhiana to Delhi to collect his luggage, which the airline had delayed in delivering.
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum presided by Narendra Kumar observed that considering the money spent by the complainant, the delay caused by the airline and "in the interest of natural justice" the lawyer was entitled to a compensation of Rs 10,000 and litigation cost of Rs 5,000.
"We order the OP to pay a sum of Rs 5,000 towards the cost of collecting luggage by complainant from Delhi and Rs 10,000 as compensation along with Rs 5,000 as cost of litigation. The total amount comes to Rs 20,000 to be paid to complainant," the bench said.
The forum's order came on the plea of a Ludhiana-based lawyer, Satish Sharma, who had claimed he had to travel all the way to Delhi to collect his luggage, which was not delivered to him in time by the airline.
During the proceedings, the counsel for the airline had offered to pay Rs 5,000 to Sharma towards expenses incurred by him in travelling to Delhi to collect the luggage.
Sharma, however, in his plea had also sought compensation saying he had to come all the way from Ludhiana to Delhi to collect the luggage which was delivered after undue delay, adding that maximum compensation be awarded to him taking into consideration, the time and money spent by him.