Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation [IRCTC] — Anomaly in existing provisions for cancellation of reservation under indian railway ticketing system

Address:	New Delhi, Delhi, 110011
Website:	www.indianrailways.gov.in

Namaskaram,
I am retired naval officer and a very elderly person (Over 69 years). A few months ago i booked a railway ticket through irctc for travel from palakkad to cannore. (Pnr no, [protected]) unfortunately while booking i made an inadvertent error of booking a ticket for 25 march 2016 instead of booking for 25 feb 2016. I realised the mistake as soon i completed the booking and called up the customer service immediately (With in 15 minutes) to help me cancel the ticket for a full refund. The person who attended my call said as per the railway rules, even though this was a mistake i will have to forfeit approx. 75% of the ticket fare paid by me. I therefore wrote a letter (Copy attached) stating the circumstances under which the mistake was made and that i contacted the irctc with in 15 minutes of the booking. However, the irctc was unable to help and resolve the issue. Even though i relentlessly tried to submit my complaint with irctc, indian railways and even the minister of railways (Through the respective web portals), finally i had no other option but to request a cancellation to avoid losing all the money i spend on the ticket. I did try to make a complaint to the indian railways but was unable to do so as the indian railways complaint portal do not have a provision for registering a complaint for requesting a refund for ticket booked on the irctc website. I even send a request to the railway minister's web portal but i am not sure if the message was actually send (May be due to built in restriction to prevent misuse). I had initially booked the ticket for rs. 565.80 and what i got when i cancelled the ticket was only rs. 140/-. I am of the opinion that this is an act of total injustice and probably the worst in the world. I would be most grateful if this could be brought to the attention of our honorable railway minister and the prime minister as i am very sure that they are not even aware of this injustice. I wonder what happened to the earlier rules of the railways when they allowed cancellation of a booking for a nominal charge. I would therefore be grateful if the indian railways and irctc amend the existing rules and have a provision incorporated into the railway reservation system to allow passengers who make a genuine mistake to cancel their tickets within say 24 hours of booking - provided that the cancellation is made well before the scheduled departure time of the train. A small amount of cancellation charges may still be charged.
I would also appreciate if indian railways could consider my case to be with in reasonable justification and allow me a appropriate refund
Thanks
Cdr (R) harihara suthan