I was traveling with my wife & Child on 10Sep 10 by 1093 Mahanagri Exp in Sleeper class in the S-1 compartment on a valid E tkt purchased on my registered login in www.irctc.co.in. Enroute before the train reached Jalgaon Jn, the special ticketing checking staff forcefully collected a penalty of Rs.1544/- due to my enabililty to produce a valid photo ID. I had forgot to carry my driving licence as I it was in my old wallet and I had forgot to transfer it in my new wallet when I changed the same a month ago.

I was being told by the TC who collected the penalty that I will get the refund of the excess fare & penalty of Rs.1544/- by applying for a refund a Mumbai Central Rly CCM office alongwith an attested true copy of a valid photo ID(which was my driving licence. Since, I reside in Mumbai, I went to the CCM office (Refunds section) to apply for the refund alongwith the required documents as mentioned. I was told by the officer that refund will not be paid for the penalty and excess fare in any case but only on the main tkt fare whihc will be 50% of the fare.

When I told him that I was told by the TC who charged me the penalty that I will get the full refund of the Excess fare + Penalty; he said that such statements are being made only to convince the passengers so that they will agree to pay the penalty.

Also, my application for refund was not accepted and I felt cheated by the concerned staff who are still freely doing this shamelful acts with other people like me.

I wish if I can get some help on whether there is any written law in with the Indian railways regarding no refund of penalties collected wrongly.

If yes, I would like to be guided to the correct procedure and department for the redressal of my grievance.