CHENNAI: The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Chennai (North), has directed a Chennai-based transport company to pay Rs 1 lakh as compensation to a passenger after a pilgrimage trip involving nearly 40 people was disrupted by a midnight breakdown near Madurai.
The Commission found that the bus, hired for a four-day pilgrimage from Chennai to Mudakkalankulam near Kovilpatti in August 2025, had been poorly maintained and operated in violation of basic safety norms, placing passengers, including women, children and senior citizens, in a vulnerable situation during the overnight journey.
Allowing a complaint filed by M Manjula of Ayanavaram, the Bench comprising Commission President D Gopinath and members Kavitha Kannan and TR Sivakumar directed the operators of MDM Fleets India Pvt Ltd to pay Rs 1 lakh as compensation, including refund of the bus fare and damages for mental agony, along with Rs 5,000 towards litigation costs.
According to the complaint, the group had booked the omnibus for Rs 72,000 to attend a Paurnami pooja scheduled at 5.30 am on August 8, 2025. The bus was to depart from Koyambedu on August 7 and reach the village temple before dawn.
However, around 3.15 am, two rear tyres of the bus burst near the Chinthamani toll gate in Madurai district while passengers were asleep, forcing the vehicle to halt in a dark and isolated stretch, triggering panic.
Later, local police shifted women and senior citizens to a nearby petrol bunk for safety. Replacement tyres arrived only several hours later, and the journey resumed after daybreak. The group ultimately reached the destination only around 10.45 am, missing the scheduled pooja that was the main purpose of the trip.
In its order, the Commission observed that the vehicle had been operated with only a single driver during the long overnight journey and that the operator failed to provide immediate assistance or arrange an alternative vehicle after the breakdown.
“The conduct of the opposite parties in not promptly responding to the emergency and compelling the passengers to continue the journey in the same vehicle amounts to negligence and deficiency in service,” it said.
Noting that the transport company had failed to appear before the forum or contest the complaint despite notice, it proceeded ex parte and accepted the complainant’s evidence on record.
The forum directed the company to pay the compensation with interest from the date of filing of the complaint until realisation and to comply with the order within two months.