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I sent by speed post, a beautiful, branded handbag costing Rs 12,000 to my daughter in Bangalore. It was a gift for her birthday and it never reached her. The Postal Department is unable to trace it and says that it will only return double the amount charged for speed post. Can I file a complaint before the consumer court? What do I need as evidence? You can file a complaint before the consumer court. First and foremost, you will need an attested copy of the speed post receipt. If you have a receipt for the bag purchased, that would also help. In the column describing the nature of the parcel, I hope you have mentioned that it is a handbag. That will also come to your aid. You should also enclose your complaint to the Post Office about the non-receipt of the parcel by your daughter and the reply sent by the Post Office on the parcel having got lost The Post Office told me that the consumer court cannot give me any relief against loss of speed post article on account of Section 6 of the Indian Post Office Act and that I will only waste time and money by lodging a complaint before the consumer court. Is this true? But fortunately, all that has now changed. In Senior Superintendent of Post Office vs Manjit Kaur Sodhi (RP NO 127 of 2012, decided on April 13, 2012) , the National Commission upheld the award of compensation of Rs 15,000 ordered by the lower consumer courts against one such complaint. Here, the complainant had bought a wedding saree costing Rs 14,727 and sent it from Bangalore by Speed Post. It reached Jalandhar Speed Post Centre and from there was sent to the Model Town Post office, which however said it was never received and the consumer, on enquiry, was told that the parcel was "lost in transit" and that she was entitled to only Rs 240 as compensation under the postal rules. The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum in this case, directed the Postal Department to pay Rs 15,000 as compensation and Rs 2,000 as costs. While upholding the award of compensation and costs, the apex consumer court quoted the observation of the Commission in Senior Post Master, GPO vs Harjinder Singh (1986-95 Consumer 1293 NC) where the Commission had observed that "Section 6 of the Indian Post Office Act does not operate to preclude claims for compensation being made against the Postal Department for non-delivery of articles dispatched by Speed Post because the Postal Department undertakes to deliver the articles within a specified period time in thereof a substantial extra charge is levied. Thus, the appellant was under a special obligation for quick delivery of such a letter ". Thus while dismissing the revision petition of the Postal Department, the Commission also directed the postal department to pay Rs 10,000 as costs.
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That used to be the position some years ago, but not anymore. In Head Post Master, Kurukshetra vs Vijay Rattan Aggarwal (RP No 15 of 1997), the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission had looked at a bunch of revision petitions on the subject and held that consumer courts could not go beyond the statutory provisions and grant compensation more than what was statutorily fixed (which was double the speed post charge or Rs 1000, whichever was lower) Consequently, in Speed Post vs Laxman Singh too (RP No 1395 of 2006) decided in 2009, the Commission stuck to the judicial precedence laid down.