Consumer forum issues bailable warrant against SpiceJet's MD

SAMBHAL: A consumer forum here has issued a bailable warrant against the SpiceJet's managing director for ignoring its two-year-old order to reimburse the air-ticket's cost to a passenger, who was not allowed to board the plane.

Sambhal District Consumer Forum Chairman Liaqat Ali issued the warrant against SpiceJet's MD, taking strong exception to the airline ignoring the Forum's order issued on October 25, 2015, said the passenger's counsel Devendra Varshney today.

The repeated attempts to contact the airline's officials to obtain their version of the incident proved futile.

Senior advocate Varshney said the matter dates back to April 20, 2015 when his client Navdeep Gupta, a resident of Chandausi in Uttar Pradesh had bought an online air ticket for Rs 5,000 at Hyderabad to travel to Delhi the next day.

But when Gupta reached the Hyderabad airport he was denied the boarding pass on the pretext that he did not have a hard-copy of the online ticket and was told to produce one to obtain the boarding pass.

The airline's insistence on producing the hard-copy of the ticket eventually led to Gupta missing the flight. The airlines did not pay back Gupta the cost of the ticket either.

An aggrieved Gupta subsequently moved the district consumer forum, which on October 25, 2015 ordered the airline to pay him Rs 5,000 along with 9 per cent interest and Rs 1,000 as costs.

But, the company did not abide by the forum's order leading Gupta to approach it once again for enforcement of its directions, said Varshney adding the matter has been fixed for next hearing on May 30.