Chennai: A ride in an Omni bus became an arduous and bumpy journey to a commuter, who suffered spinal card injury and spent over Rs 1.80 lakh towards medical expense three years ago.
Disposing his petition, the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Chennai (North) has directed the manager of the Omni bus to refund the medical expense along with a compensation of Rs 15,000 for causing mental agony.
In the petition, P. Sankar Narayanan, Avadi purchased a ticket through online portal, seatseller.com to travel from Chennai to Nagarcoil on June 28, 2014. He was allotted a seat in an omni bus operated by Tippu Sultan Travels, Koyambedu.
Narayanan traveled on June 28, 2014, at night. At Nanguneri, Tirunelveli, the driver drove the vehicle in a negligent manner and crossed a speed breaker with massive jerk and noise. He suffered internal spinal cord injury and was unable to tolerate the severe pain and shock. Despite this, he continued his travel to Nagarcoil with pain and agony. The bus driver left him at private orthopedic hospital. He was admitted as an inpatient and discharged on July 1, 2014 at his request.
Unable to bear severe pain, he returned to Chennai by train and admitted at Miot Hospital on July 2, 2014. Two days later he underwent Ballon Kyphoplasty surgery for D12 Osteoporotic compression fracture. He remained in the hospital for six days and incurred medical expenses of Rs 1.80 lakh.
The counsel for the petitioner said Sankar suffered injury due to the negligence of bus driver. In the petition, he sought direction to Tippu Sultan Travels to pay the cost of the medical expenses and compensation for injury, mental agony.
Though the manager received notice, he did not appear before the Forum and hence he was called absent and set as ex-parte.
The bench comprising president K. Jayabalan and member T. Kalaiyarasi, said the complainant is entitled for a sum of Rs 1.80 lakh from the travels manager towards medical expenses incurred by him. The bench has also directed the travels to pay him a compensation of Rs 15,000.
