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The Delhi High Court on Tuesday issued notice to Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation (RTDC) in a petition seeking refund of advance amount paid for travel commencing March, 2020 to April, 2022 in Palace on Wheels (POW), a premier luxury train running across northern plains and parts of Rajasthan. The petitioner further challenges Office Order dated 03.01.2023 mandating alternative dates for the tourists and effectuating unilateral deductions, for all travel bookings suspended due to the outbreak of COVID-19.

The petitioner runs the business of providing travel and tour-related services to clients across the world and has been promoting Palace on Wheels, operated by the Respondent, for more than a decade.

On 25.03.2019, the respondent announced Special Business Promotional Scheme for bulk booking of Palace on Wheels.

The Petitioner booked 325 cabins for 2019-20 paying 20% as advance and 404 cabins for 2020-21.

However, the train was not operated by RTDC due to the onset of COVID-19 pandemic.

It is apposite to mention that all bookings were made in the operation of Office orders dated 25.03.2019 and 23.07.2019 as per which any shift in the departure dates (on account of train not being operated during the COVID-19 Pandemic) would also be on the same tariff. This implies that there could have been no unilateral increase/reduction, once the advance payments were done to RTDC.

“It is an admitted fact that while making all these bookings, the 20% advance for these bookings had been collected by the Petitioner from the concerned tourists on whose behalf the bookings have been made. The said 20% advance had also been paid by the Petitioner to the RTDC at its booking office located at Bikaner House, New Delhi. In this behalf, the RTDC had also issued receipts to the Petitioner clearly stating that the advances have been received on behalf of the said tourists for the travel dates in 2020-21 and 2021-22. These receipts had also been issued from the RTDC’s office at Bikaner House, New Delhi… Despite the repeated and multiple requests of the Petitioner, RTDC has completely refused to refund these amounts and in many instances has ignored all such communications made on behalf of the petitioner”, the petition states.

It further challenges the Office Order dated 03.01.2023 asserting that RTDC, on account of its own failure to operate the trains during the travel dates for which bookings had been made, cannot compel the public to accept newly decided dates and tariffs.

“It is actually submitted that RTDC being an Article 12 State entity, is obliged to comply with the constitutional requirements/obligations, including under Article 14 of the Constitution of India. RTDC cannot be permitted to act in an arbitrary, whimsical and capricious manner thereby violating the rights of the tourists as well as the petitioner herein and unilaterally retain the money paid by them as advance booking amounts, admittedly when the said bookings had not been honoured by the RTDC,” the petition further states.

Reliance is also placed on ABL International Ltd. v. Export Credit, (2004) 3 SCC 553 where the Hon'ble Supreme Court emphasized on role and obligation of State in Contractual matters.

Case Title: Worldwide Rail Journeys Pvt. Ltd. v. Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation Ltd.