Date:14/10/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/10/14/stories/2007101453940400.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Courier company pulled up

Staff Reporter

Firm ordered to pay compensation of Rs. 5,000
It claimed that package was given to security guard

BANGALORE: A consumer court in Bangalore has asked a courier company to pay Rs. 5,000 as compensation to a customer for failing to deliver a consignment.

Saumya Mishra couriered a set of documents pertaining to a site through DTDC Courier & Cargo Ltd. from Hyderabad on November 16, 2005 for which she was charged Rs. 20. The package was addressed to her father, J.P. Mishra, Principal Scientific Officer, Defence Research and Development Organisation, who stays in DRDO Township II, C.V. Raman Nagar, Bangalore.

Mr. Mishra never receive the consignment. After several visits and phone calls to the courier firm, he was told the consignment was delivered to Sampath, a security guard at the gate of the DRDO residential complex. Mr. Mishra found out that there was no such person. He was informed that the DRDO Estate Management Unit had prohibited security staff from receiving mail or parcels.

He filed a complaint before the Third Additional Bangalore Urban District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum. Mr. Mishra said the failure to deliver the documents had made it difficult for him to sell his site to mobilise money for his daughter’s marriage.

The courier firm contended that the consignment was delivered to the security guard, whose signature was on the delivery sheet. As the consignor had not made any declaration about the contents of the package, the agency was liable to pay only Rs. 100 under the terms and conditions of the consignment note.

Forum president N. Srivathsa Kedilaya and member Subhashini said it was the duty of the courier to ensure that the consignment reached the consignee or any authorised representative and no one else. It should direct the delivery man to hand over the consignment to the consignee.

“If that is not followed, certainly it would create several problems. Moreover, there is also the possibility of misuse of consignment by their own man,” the forum said.

Laying down guidelines, the forum said the courier should get the consignment note filled by the consignor after determining its contents. The signature or thumb impression of the consignor should be obtained on the consignment note. It was not right to get the consignor to sign an incomplete note, it said.