NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Thursday granted a stay order on the verdict passed by Delhi State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (SCDRC) on November 26 against GoAir awarding compensation of Rs 15,000 to each passenger of a cancelled flight. One Yogesh Kumar had filed a suit against GoAir after his flight from Delhi to Mumbai got cancelled on February 26.

When contacted, a GoAir official said, “The State Commission overstepped its jurisdiction by giving compensation to each of the passengers. Moreover, the SCDRC had failed to take into consideration that the flight was cancelled on account of conditions beyond the control of GoAir.

The Commission also ordered a compensation amount of Rs 5,000 in addition to the cost of litigation, pegged at Rs 2,000.

A class XI student, Shahshank Panwar, had applied for the FIIT-JEE course, 2008, in 2006. “Barely after a month, Shashank started complaining about the gross deficiency in the quality of coaching. After 5 months, he stopped taking the course and we asked the management to refund the course amount,” Mukesh Huda, Shashank’s lawyer told Newsline.

Shashank’s father, Pramod said that the course was not satisfactory. “Shashank could not cope with the vast syllabus of class XI and the FIIT-JEE course put together.”

Huda said that despite repeated attempts, FIIT-JEE did not refund the amount. Huda said that they even “resorted to threatening.”

The State Commission observed that “we have come down heavily on such a practice followed by educational institutions by charging lump sums for 2-3 years duration at one go, which is to charge consideration for the period for which it is yet to provide service. The institutes force the students to attend the course in spite of them being unsatisfactory services.”

The Commission observed that the term fees once paid is not refundable “is unconscionable as well as voidable and therefore not actionable.”

HC stays GoAir verdict
The Delhi High Court on Thursday granted a stay order on the verdict passed by Delhi State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (SCDRC) on November 26 against GoAir awarding compensation of Rs 15,000 to each passenger of a cancelled flight. One Yogesh Kumar had filed a suit against GoAir after his flight from Delhi to Mumbai got cancelled on February 26.