Wednesday, Feb 20, 2013
Abu Dhabi: An Indian expatriate has succeeded in his year-long legal battle in India against an Indian cargo-clearing agent who allegedly overcharged him for clearing goods he had sent at an Indian seaport.
Padakkara Babu Suresh, 56, a businessman in Al Ain, said he had sent some household goods in a 20-feet container from Al Ain to Kochi seaport in the southern state of Kerala, in India, in May 2010. A Dubai-based shipping company collected the items from his home and promptly sent them to Kochi at a cost of Dh3,400. “But I found that most of the UAE-based shipping companies do not take the responsibility of clearing the cargo at Kochi port because of certain problems there,” Suresh told Gulf News yesterday.
So he engaged a Kochi-based clearing agent, a shipping company, and paid 49,679 Indian rupees (Dh3,355) only to realise later that he had been overcharged. “When I enquired, I came to know that many unscrupulous agents in Kochi port were overcharging the expatriate customers who do not know the market rates. And most of the expatriates never complain to authorities or take legal action, because they cannot spend much time in India,” Suresh said.
He was determined to fight the injustice and approached a district consumer court in Kerala in February 2011 to get a refund of the amount he had been overcharged from the agent.
The Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum in Ernakulum ordered the shipping company to pay the complainant a total of 38,318 rupees. “The judgement was pronounced on December 31, 2012, but I got its copy this week only,” Suresh said.
The judgement said the agent shall refund 22,318.50 rupees to the complainant along with interest at the rate of 9 per cent per annum from the date of filing the complaint until the refund is made.
The agent was also ordered to pay 15,000 rupees towards the mental agony suffered by the complainant due to the deficiency in service on the part of the agent. In addition, the agent was also asked to pay 1,000 rupees towards legal costs of the proceedings to the complainant.
The agent could not be reached for comments due to a two-day public strike in India.
Suresh said his experience proved that expatriates should not shy away from taking legal action if injustice was meted out to them back home. “We can win if we are right!”
Now Suresh wants to help fellow-expatriates facing similar problems. “I have learned a lot and utilised India’s Right to Information Act to get certain documents to produce before the court. I am ready to share my experience and extend support to anyone wants to fight injustice,” he said.
According to the judgement, the agent denied the allegations of overcharging; claiming that amount collected was disbursed to various agencies for ultimately taking delivery of the goods. But the complainant contended, with the support of the documents he obtained, that most of the charges could have been avoided if the agent worked efficiently, an argument which was accepted by the court.
By Binsal Abdul Kader Staff Reporter
Gulf News 2013. All rights reserved.
