A travel agency has been fined with a hefty amount recently for a visa rejection. The Vadodara consumer forum ordered the firm to pay the penalty. It is accountable for submitting a fine of ₹50,000 for the visa rejection issue faced by one of its customers. Also, the firm has been held responsible for harassing the customer mentally. But what actually happened that forced the man to lodge a complaint and take the case to court? Read all about it here.
Travel Firm Needs To Pay ₹50,000 To The Customer For Canada Visa Rejection
According to a report by The Times of India, Mahendra Jangad planned to travel to Canada back in 2017. He is from Gandhidham. While planning to visit abroad, he connected Secure Visa and Immigration for the entire visa process and all the necessary steps involved in this journey. The travel firm assured and promised him that he would get his visa to fly to Canada.
Getting optimistic responses, the customer submitted ₹50,000 to the firm to take the process forward. However, all his money and efforts went in vain as he faced a rejection for his Canada visa. The Canada consulate responded stating that he did not provide all the needed information. Hence, his visa application was rejected in September 2017.
Heartbroken with the Canada visa rejection, Mahendra informed the travel firm about the same. Unfortunately, the agency did not take any responsibility for the incident and stated that they would not pay him back the amount that he deposited for the visa. Following this, he complained to the Vadodara District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission in October 2017.
Also read: Indians Lost ₹109 Crore To Schengen Visa Rejections; What Causes These Visa Rejections?
What Happened Next?
The travel firm informed the consumer forum that the deposit was non-refundable. In addition to this, there was an affidavit as well. Unfortunately, the forum stated that this affidavit could not be considered as it was against the interest of the consumer.
Following this, the forum ordered the firm to pay ₹50,000 with a 9 per cent interest from the date of filing the complaint because they failed to provide the needed information for the Canada visa. Next, the opponent also needs to pay ₹10,000 for the consumer’s mental harassment and a legal cost payment of ₹5,000 to him.
Also read: Schengen Visa Rejection: India Had The 2nd-Highest Rejection In 2022, Losing Almost ₹90 Crore
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