CCPA directs Kesari Tours to refund cancelled tour amounts to 461 consumers

The Central Consumer Protection Authority has ordered Kesari Tours Pvt Ltd to refund 461 tourists their entire costs with interest for tours cancelled due to Covid-19. The order also directs the company to refund cancellation charges and forfeiture charges and to refrain from forcing consumers to undertake future tours to adjust the refund amount. The total amount to be refunded is ₹6.96 crore. The order gives the company four weeks to comply.

MUMBAI: In a landmark order, the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA), a new authority set up under the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act, has directed Kesari Tours Pvt Ltd to refund 461 tourists their entire costs with nine percent interest for the tours that got cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

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The order dated November 28 by CCPA chief commissioner Nidhi Khare also directed the Mumbai-based travel company to refund the 25 percent cancellation charges and forfeiture charges from consumers who paid only the initial advance amount as well as rescheduling charges recovered from consumers. It also asked Kesari to refrain permanently from forcing consumers to undertake future tours to adjust the refund amount. The order gave four weeks to the company to comply. The total amount paid by consumers, many of whom were senior citizens, in 189 bookings works out to ₹6.96 crore.

Leading consumer rights protection body Mumbai Grahak Panchayat (MGP) had filed a class action complaint before the Delhi-based CCPA in 2020 against Kesari Tours, seeking directions for a full refund of the money paid towards the cancelled tours. It produced a list of 461 Kesari consumers who were denied a refund.

CCPA is a newly created central authority under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, which is mandated to protect the interest of consumers as a class and prevent violation of consumer rights and unfair trade practices.

MGP had alleged in its complaint that instead of refunding the cost of cancelled tours, Kesari Tours was forcing consumers to undertake future tours against their wishes and that too after levying cancellation charges and additionally recovering rescheduling charges. MGP contended that these actions of Kesari Tours violated consumer rights and constituted typical unfair trade practices under the Consumer Protection Act.

Kesari Tours initially responded to the CCPA notice and filed its replies. However, when an interim order was passed by CCPA on November 18, 2021, directing the company to refund 75 percent of the tour cost, the company obtained a stay from the Delhi high court. In May 2023, the HC asked the company to go back to CCPA and satisfy the Authority regarding its claim that 80 percent of cases had been settled.

The CCPA listed the case for hearing four times from May 2023 till November 17 and asked Kesari to place the records of the claimed refunds before it. However, the company did not produce the relevant records and wrote to CCPA a day before the November 17 hearing that the Delhi HC had scheduled a hearing on January 10, 2024, and hence it would not participate in further proceedings before the Authority.

Noting that Kesari Tours’ deliberate absence for the hearings constituted defiance of the Authority, the CCPA finally disposed of the MGP complaint by holding that “refusal to give refund to consumers whose tours were cancelled due to Covid Pandemic lockdown amounts to violation of consumer right to get full refund, besides being gross Unfair Trade Practice”. The MGP team of chairman Shirish Deshpande, Dr Archana Sabnis and Adv Pooja Joshi- Deshpande represented the consumers.

When contacted, Zelam Chaubal, director, Kesari Tours Pvt Ltd said, “Kesari Tours and some other travel companies have already challenged the authority of CCPA to pass any such baseless orders in this matter. The matter is pending with the honourable higher court, and we are awaiting further instructions from them.”