Court orders Turkish Airlines to pay artiste for damaging sitar

BHOPAL: The Bhopal district consumer court on Monday instructed the Turkish Airlines to compensate a sitar artiste for damaged baggage.
Sitar artiste, Smita Nagdev, had filed a case against the Turkish Airlines for damaging her sitar while she was travelling to Zurich in 2008 from New Delhi.
Talking to TOI, Nagdev said, “I had to give a performance in Switzerland.I had a booking from Turkish Airlines on July 20, 2008. I was also carrying a sitar which was loaded in the luggage. At Zurich airport, the airlines gave me a damaged sitar. When I asked for an explanation, they refused to entertain me.”
Recalling the incident, Nagdev said, “It was no less than a nightmare for me. I was carrying a damaged sitar and my performance was the next day. I had contacted a few shopkeepers, but they were not able to fix it.”
The sitar Smita was given was in a bad shape. Its round bottom was broken and it was unrepairable and unusable. Smita then borrowed a sitar from her friends and performed at the international festival.
Irked over the incident, Smita filed a case against Turkish Airlines in the Bhopal district consumer forum. “I had claimed 15,000 Euros from the airline, but they sent me a cheque of 600 Euros," said Smita.
A legal notice was sent to the airline in 2009.
In its reply, Turkish Airlines submitted that as per the damaged baggage report, it was only reported that the top handle and locks of fibre were broken. No other part was mentioned as damaged.
The court stated that in case there was no declaration of fragile or perishable items, then the limited liability clause is effective. As per clause 9.7.1, a passenger may declare values for the checked in baggage in excess of the applicable limited liability. In the absence of such declaration, the liability shall be fixed in accordance with 16.3.4 of GCOC of the opposite party, which limits the liability of the carrier to US 20 dollars per kg.
The complaint is thus partly accepted against the opposite party in accordance with the liability of an airline under GCOC of the airline. The court also directed the Turkish Airlines to pay Rs 5,000 towards the litigation charges within two months of the date of the order.