IRCTC News: Do’s & Don’ts for the Agents Registered with IRCTC

IRCTC News: Do’s & Don’ts for the Agents Registered with IRCTC

Do’s  for the agents.

I. General Guidelines

Registration  as an agent in IRCTC is issued for booking of  E- Tickets only (except RTSA agents, who are authorized by  Railways) .

IRCTC’s rules & regulations are to be read properly & followed strictly. Ignorance of the same cannot be considered as a valid reason.

Agents are required to give the correct address, Telephone. No & mail id  in the registration form.

Change of address should be intimated to IRCTC immediately along with the original certificate issued by IRCTC, in order to issue a fresh certificate.

Certificate of Authorization issued by IRCTC should be prominently displayed at the agency.

Agents if permitted by IRCTC, can keep  a sign board outside their agency in which IRCTC’s logo can be displayed. IRCTC’s logo (Soft copy) will be sent by e-mail on request by the Agent.

The agents must be fully aware of the extant rules. For this  programmes are being conducted by the agent’s cell. So far training was given to agents  of Sify, BPCL, Hughes & PC training institute.

The user id’s of the agents who are not booking tickets (non transacting agents) will be de-activated after a period of time as decided by IRCTC.

All fraudulent activities like Overcharging, booking tickets thru personal user id’s, creating multiple user id’s will be dealt strictly. The minimum punishment will be deactivation and also further legal action will be initiated against the agent.

Alteration or tampering of the original ERS slip is a criminal activity and is punishable u/s 420 of the Indian Penal code.

Individual id given to Agents by IRCTC or Master group is not transferrable. Agents should verify the ids provided to them and also the authorization certificate issued by IRCTC. If by mistake, id of another agent is issued to them they should immediately inform their agent group.

Whenever the cancellation ticket amount / the TDR refund amount which is credited back in the agent’s account used for ticket booking could not be refunded to the customer due to various reasons, the money should be returned to IRCTC.

Agents if found to be using wrong id, then their ids will be deactivated   immediately as well as legal action will be taken against them.

Agents should practice good business ethics.

Mandatory for agent to display rules & regulation in the outlet.

II . Guidelines for Booking/ Cancellation of Tickets

It is mandatory for all agents to take the written requests from the customers for both booking & cancellation of the tickets. These requests are to be preserved for a period of six months.
Agents should issue receipt on their own stationary for the amount collected from the customers.
The receipt should contain details like Railway Fare, IRCTC’s service charges, agents service charges etc. (The service Tax as applicable on the agents service charges should be shown separately in the receipt).
The agent must ensure that the transaction (Booking or cancellation) is done with the complete knowledge and acceptance of the customer.
The service charges to be collected by the agents should be displayed prominently by the agents in their premises.
Cancellation is a part of the service already extended to the Customer. Hence no extra charges should be collected when the customer approaches the agent at a later date for cancellation of his ticket.

III. Guidelines for Filing TDR

It is mandatory for the agents to obtain a written request from the customers before TDR cases are filed with the Railways.
If cash cards are used, it is pertinent to retain the exhausted  cards for refunds if any.
Agent should refund the money to the customer immediately in all cases.
Along with the refund, the refund details must be provided to the customer during cancellation.
In case of refund of e- tickets which could not be cancelled on website, the agent must inform the customer about the process, take contact details & remit the refund to the customer as and when it is credited in the agent’s account.

IV. Guidelines for the Agent Group

Agents or the Organization should register their Franchisees/ Branches only if minimum basic Infrastructure already exists. The Agency should have its own office with valid license for online ticket reservation and efficient staff to handle the booking / delivery of e- tickets as and when required.

It will be obligatory on the part of the principle agent to control the activities of their sub agent. The principle agent will be equally liable for all civil and criminal liabilities of their sub- agent.

ERS issued by the agent should contain name and full address contact details of the same agent and the name of the principle agent.

The ERS issued by all the agents should  be  strictly in the format prescribed by the IRCTC.

Agent group should educate their agents regarding rules and regulation of IRCTC or about ticket booking software (in case of web services agents) etc.

Principle agent should ensure complete sharing of information & full cooperation with IRCTC.

Agent Group or organizations with or without web services should keep a close watch on the conduct of their agents & in case of receipt of complaint   against any agent by the customers then the agent id should be deactivated at the operators end immediately, under intimation to IRCTC.

All mails / references made by IRCTC in agents matter should be replied back within (7) days.

In case of deactivation of agents by master  agent IRCTC should be informed immediately. Agent group should ensure that ids are not transferred. If an agent wants to surrender his id then the same should not be transferred to another agent. New agents should be given fresh ids only. IRCTC will initiate action against the agent group if found guilty in such matters.

On repeated receipt of established complaints of overcharging, fraud refund claims etc against a particular agent group is received by IRCTC then further registration of agents for that agent group will be stopped for six months.

The agent group should control the activities of their sub agents. In case of alteration or tampering with the ERS slip the same is punishable u/s of the Indian Penal code for which the second party as well as the agent is liable.

Dont’s for the Agents

No advertisement in any form whether in print or press media is to be issued without prior permission from IRCTC in writing.

Extra charges in any form whether for cancellation of the ticket    or checking the availability status should not be collected from the customers.

Booking of  I- tickets is prohibited & punishable with minimum punishment of immediate   deactivation of the user id.

Transfer &  re-sale of Tickets is punishable under Indian Railway Rules under Sec.142.
Agents are prohibited to print Reservation Application Forms with IRCTC Logo on top.
Popularizing the organizations name as authorized Railway Agents is strictly prohibited.
The agents are “IRCTC authorized E- Ticketing agents”.

IRCTC’s  logo should not be used in Visiting Cards, Letterheads, and Pamphlets or in any other forms unless approved by IRCTC.

Tickets should be booked only when the customer approaches.

Login page should not be kept idle for a long time.

Do not use back or refresh option while booking tickets.

Do not book benami e- tickets (anybody doing so will be prosecuted).Blocking of accommodation by giving fictitious names in   any train should   not be done. As per the Indian Railways Act-1989 blocking of accommodation is a criminal offence and is punishable.

The Electronic Reservation Slip (ERS) should not be modified. If brought to the notice, IRCTC will take necessary punitive steps.

Do not cancel the tickets without the knowledge and request of the customer.
Do not change the profile by entering new details even if update profile link is available(Rare cases) in the left panel in our website after logging in. if you update you will be reverted as individual user loosing the functionality of agent booking.

Do not lose the Digital Certificate as you will not be able to login without the certificate.

If above guidelines are not followed then punitive actions will be taken as detailed below:
A penalty of upto Rs. 20,000/- will be imposed on the Principal Agent.

Double the amount of overcharging will have to be paid to IRCTC by the Principal Agent.
The Agent sub user ID will be permanently deactivated and debarred from booking etickets for customers in future.

Apart from above penalties, violation of any of the terms & conditions of IRCTC for eticketing would lead to BLACKLISTING OF PRINCIPAL AGENCY and will not be entertained for reactivation under any circumstances.

For Principle agents:

If complaints are received and proved against 10 different agents of a   principle agent in a period of 03 months then a showcause notice will be issued.

If between 11-20 complaints are received and proved against different agents of a principle agent in a period of 03 months then a warning will be issued and further registration of agents of that principle agent will be stopped for 01 month.

If between 21-30 complaints are received and proved against different agents of a principle agent in a period of 03 months then further registration of the agents for that principle agent will be stopped for 03 months.

If more than 30 complaints are received and proved against different agents of a principle agent in a period of 03 months then the services of the principle agent will be terminated for 03 months.For any principle agent if no. of complaints received in a calendar year is more than 0.25% of the total of their agent group then the services of the principle agent will be terminated for 06 months.

For any activity which is restricted by IRCTC like unauthorized branding, Tatkal Robot Facility, saving booking form either at server or at client machine or  allowing Tatkal form to be opened before stipulated Tatkal time,  use of technology for gaining unfair advantage in Ticket booking, Technical problems (making changes without proper testing etc.) etc.,   the services of the principle agent will be deactivated for the next 06 months in the first instance and for second instance, services will be permanently terminated.

Source: IRCTC