Mumbai: The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) has said that Indian postal services have immunity to delays unless liability is undertaken in expressed terms. An order by NCDRC has dismissed a revision petition that challenged the state commission’s order of modifying higher compensation given by the district commission to a complainant.
Order after complaint against Superintendent of India Post
The order dated March 9 was passed on a complaint by Haryana resident Yogesh Kumar against the Superintendent of India Post. Kumar had sent a letter to a holiday firm in Agra on Dec 24, 2014, to avail a package, but the parcel reached on Jan 7, 2015 instead of 48 hours as expected. As a result, he lost ₹30,000 and first approached the district consumer commission, which directed compensation of ₹13,060 and double postal charges as refund. When the matter went to the state commission, the compensation was reduced to ₹500 and Kumar was given double the postal charges as refund.
Upset with the modified compensation, Kumar had approached the NCDRC. During the hearing, NCDRC stated that “section 6 of the Indian Post Office Act, 1898, provides for immunity to the government, i.e. Postal Department, from any liability by reason of loss, mis-delivery, delay or damage to any postal article in the course of transmission, except in cases where in expressed terms the liability is undertaken by the Centre’.
Order to have pan-India ramifications
Reacting to the order, which has pan-India ramifications, Mumbai-based consumer activist Jehangir Gai said that it’s “unfair to have two different yardsticks for the same type of service, one for the private sector, and another for the government sector when the latter provides the same service”.
Gai said, “The objective of speed post gets defeated with such delay. This Act was framed during the British Raj and should be amended keeping in mind current expectations of service. There were no aeroplanes and the postal service depended on roads. Another thing is private couriers look for profit (routes). Where the postman goes once a month to a distant remote place, the courier may not go at all.”
He said India Post gives service in remote places but there should be reasonable provisions (of time). “As compared to a remote village, posts to Delhi or Gurgaon will reach faster. Provisions have to keep present expectations in mind,” he said.
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