A Kerala resident has won a payout of Rs 19,700 after the Thiruvananthapuram District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission held Southern Railway guilty of deficiency in service for denying him a ticket cancellation refund. The commission observed that the SMS confirming the tickets was only received within the four-hour window before departure, during which cancellations were not allowed a refund.

Commission president P V Jayarajan and members Preetha G Nair and Viju V R stated in the October 27 order, “The intimation of confirmed tickets to the complainant within four hours of the scheduled departure of the train itself restrains the complainant to cancel the confirmed tickets before four hours of the scheduled departure of the train.…