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A writ petition has been filed with the High Court challenging the legality of the verdict delivered by the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection (DNCRP) fining Tk 0.2 million to ticketing platform shohoz.com after hearing a charge of negligence in the process of selling tickets brought by a Dhaka University student.
It also sought direction from the High Court to stay fine, said Barrister Tanjib ul Alam who filed the writ petition on behalf of shohoz.com on Monday.
The petition, mentioned in the High Court bench of Justice Md Khasruzzaman and Justice Md Iqbal Kabir, may come to the cause list of the bench on Wednesday for hearing, said the lawyer.
Mohiuddin Rony, a fourth-year student of the Theatre and Performance Studies Department of the University of Dhaka, has been holding a sit-in programme in front of the ticket counters of the Kamalapur Railway Station in Dhaka since July 7, protesting the mismanagement of the railway department. He also gave a memorandum to the Director General of Bangladesh Railway regarding the issue.
On June 13, he tried to book train tickets on the Dhaka-Rajshahi route from the railway website. As per his claim, although the money was deducted from his mobile banking account, he did not get a seat in the train. When he complained to the server room of Kamalapur station that day, he was told that there was a ‘system failure’, and if he did not receive the money within 15 days, he was asked to go again.
He said that he complained about the matter twice to the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection. But he was not called for hearing from there. In this circumstance, he started a non-violent movement.
On July 20, the DNCRP held a hearing on his allegation and fined ticketing platform shohoz.com Tk 0.2 million for its negligence in the process of selling tickets.
The fine was imposed after a hearing on the allegation of negligence brought by Mohiuddin Rony, said DNCRP Director General AHM Shafiquzzaman in a press briefing on that day.
Shohoz's negligence has been proven in the hearing, said the DG. Shohoz will have to pay Tk 0.2 million within five working days, he added. Rony will get 25 per cent (Tk 50,000) of the entire fine amount, said the DG.
Meanwhile, shohoz.com’s Vice-President Jubaer Hossain on July 21 told a High Court bench that one has to pay within 15 minutes to buy a ticket through online process, but Mohiuddin Rony paid after about one hour. That is why he didn’t get the ticket, the official also said added that they have already returned the money to Rony.