After representing India at the European Nuclear Physics Conference at Groningen, Netherlands, Sardool Singh Ghumman was on his way back to Chandigarh on September 6th, 2015, via a Delhi-bound Air India flight.
Just before his flight was about to take-off from the New Delhi airport, he was deboarded off the plane and was not given any reason.
Ghumman, an Associate Professor at Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering and Technology, said that a female Air India personnel had told him in a “disrespectful manner” to collect his belongings and get off the plane.
He added that he approached the Air India officials at the airport to give him a reason and clear the matter, but in vain.
He then hired a taxi for Rs. 5,500 that drove him down to Chandigarh.
After the incident, Ghumman filed a case against the airline at the Consumer Forum of Chandigarh.
According to sources, Air India pleaded that it was was the security agencies which detained the baggage of the complainant for a security re-check. Hence, there was no deficiency in service or unfair trade practice on their part.
The Consumer Forum of Chandigarh ordered the airline to pay Ghumman the taxi fare, a compensation of Rs. 5,000 and Rs 5,000 as the cost of litigation.
But considering the amount of harassment and stress he underwent, he was getting a meagre amount. Thus, he complained to the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission at Chandigarh about the same.
The consumer forum has now finally increased the compensation from Rs. 5,000 to 1 Lakh INR to be paid to Ghumman!
The Air India officials could not specify a reason for their disrespectful conduct towards the professor. In fact, after Ghumman underwent a security check before boarding his flight on the day of the incident, nothing suspicious was found in his luggage. Even if there were, there was ample time before take-off to scrutinize his luggage.
“…It is not admirable that for a person, who has represented our country in an international seminar to face such insult and stress…”, read the judgement released on April 4.
Harassment by officials in any given sector is a given in this country. However, it’s good to know that unnecessary annoyance doesn’t go unpunished!