(a) the existing rules which regulate/permit refund on cancellation of untravelled or
partially travelled journey tickets;
(b) the total number of cases of refunds on calculating railway reservation tickets
pending with the Railways;
(c) whether any time limit has been earmarked to settle the refund claims of the
passengers;
(d) if so, the details thereof; and
(e) the steps taken by the Railways for speedy refund of the reservation tickets?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS (SHRI KOTLA JAYA SURYA PRAKASH REDDY)
(a) Refund on the unused tickets are given as per provisions contained in Railway Passengers
(Cancellation of ticket and refund of fare) Rules, 1998 notified vide Gazette Notification No.
G.S.R. 410(E) dated 24th July, 1998 and amended through Gazette notification from time to time.
(b) Refund cases are processed by the railways on a daily basis and the refunds are granted
after due verification of the claims. It is a continuous process. Approximately 90,000 cases
are pending with the Railways at present.
(c) & (d): If the tickets are surrendered across the reservation counter within the
specified time limit, the due refund is granted immediately. In other cases, the genuineness
of the claims has to be verified and refunds granted only thereafter. All efforts are made to
settle such cases within the stipulated period of three months.
(e) In order to ensure speedy disposal of refund cases, Indian Railways have taken the
following steps:-
(i) The Enhanced Coaching Refund System has been developed to faster processing of cases.
(ii) An Exceptional Data Report (EDR) system has been developed for quick verification of
passenger claims.
(iii) Monitoring of the refund cases is done at the Zonal and Board Level.