[Resolved]  Southern Railway — fare collected twice

On a fairly long tour of South India with my family, I travelled from Rameswaram to Cape Kanyakumari on 10th October 2013 (my wedding anniversary day) on a Tatkal ticket as the tickets I have booked earlier online were wait-listed. Even after producing the Tatkal ticket and the coloured photo identification, I was charged by the ticket examiner on the train with Rs.1, 755/- on the plea that it was a ticket-less travel I was undertaking since the original Id proof was not produced. Please go through my points of contention and be kind towards the genuine concerns of a honest tax payer. I had to cut short our long tour and return home for want of finances. 1. If no Id proof in original is produced, I can understand the levy of penalty. But, collecting the ticket fare again (once while booking the Tatkal ticket and again by the Examiner) is unjust and contentious. 2. Why should I forego about a thousand and half rupees just for not showing the original Id proof? I was not travelling without any Id. In fact, the coloured xerox of the driving licence (a copy of which was pinned to the Tatkal application at the time of booking) was produced for verification to show that I was not an imposter or fraudster. 3. The ticket examiner conveniently wrote 'no id proof' in stead of writing 'no original id'. He was also rude and sarcastic, passing unnecessary comments in front of my family and other co-passengers. The Railways may do well to show some respect at least to the senior citizens of this nation. 4. If there is a rule that the ticket fare should be collected twice for a single journey, then that rule is draconian. Levying penalty for not showing the original Id is okay but still contentious. But collecting the fare twice is atrocious. 5. The rules are being framed to curtail the agents/brokers, which is laudable. But still the nexus continues and rules are circumvented by some unethical employees and these brokers/agents. In the process, genuine passengers are harassed and put to untold suffering. 6. The Examiner could have shown a little discretion as regards the genuineness instead of slapping a heavy penalty including the ticket-fare for a second time. 7. I request you to consider my case and order the railways to refund the excess fare collected.

xerox copy of ID CARD is not allowed as per railway rules...