As per the petition filed by the caterer, the order was illegal and arbitrary, should be quashed and set aside.
The Bombay High Court recently upheld an order passed by Western Railway, canceling a catering contract on the prestigious Swarn Jayanti Rajdhani Express, which plies between Ahmedabad and New Delhi.
A division bench of Justice Anoop Mohta and Justice Anuja Prabhudessai rejected the petition filed by Ambuj Hotel and Real Estate Private Limited, challenging the termination order issued in March. The court observed, "No merit is made out in the petition filed, thus it is dismissed."
The railways through Advocate Suresh Kumar and Advocate Priyanka Tiwari, argued that several complaints from general public, MPs, MLAs and through social media were received against the poor catering service, less quantity of food served, and misbehaviour by catering staff. To protect the image of the railways, the order of termination was passed. As per the petition filed by the caterer, the order was illegal and arbitrary, should be quashed and set aside.
The order of the railways stated that it received 133 complaints, on an average of 13 to 14 per month, from the time of the contract in 2015. However, a reply by the contractor stated that complaints are about 0.02 per cent of the total passengers served, and therefore not a big issue. The railways refuted that even 0.02 per cent of dissatisfaction of passengers traveling by such a prestigious is not acceptable.
Among the list of deficiencies listed by the railways include serving frozen dessert in place of ice cream; sweets in evening snacks replaced with muffins; paneer in vegetables found to be in less quantity; no welcome drinks served to passengers; tea and coffee served along with breakfast but served on demand, without stirrer. The complaint also mentioned that even rice with meals was less in weight. And, the caterer was not fire compliant.
Complaints galore
The order of the railways stated that it received 133 complaints, and an average of 13 to 14 per month, from the time of the contract in 2015
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