In all, appellant Karamjit Singh Rudra, resident of Mohali, will get Rs 1,50,000 as compensation and another refund of Rs 28,200 paid by him for a trip.

Last November, the Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum had directed Mumbai-based travel company SOTC to compensate the petitioner for deficiency in service. After the order was passed, both Karamjit and the travel firm filed an appeal before the Commission.

Partly accepting Karamjit’s plea, the commission headed by K C Gupta stated, “The amount to be refunded by the opposite party is partly allowed and the impugned order is modified. The opposite party is further directed to pay another amount of Rs 50,000 from the main tour price as the purpose of the tour was not fulfilled due to deficiency in service. Subject to the above modification, the impugned order is upheld.”

Meanwhile, the appeal of SOTC was dismissed by the Commission.

The petitioner, Karamjit Singh, had booked an educational tour to Europe for himself and his daughter for which he had deposited Rs 2 lakh, along with a medical insurance of Rs 963 per person.

He alleged that he was neither given medical insurance nor provided visa service, for which the firm charged him an additional Rs 8,000.

Karamjit said when he went to the firm’s office to collect the documents, he was told they would be given to him at the airport on May 23, 2007.

He averred that on reaching Rome, he found there was no medical insurance in his name.

He stated that the matter was taken up with the SOTC office in Chandigarh but nothing concrete came out of it.

After receiving the notice, the firm admitted that a tour was booked by Karamjit but denied that medical insurance was levied on him.