Gulf Air has been directed by the state consumer commission here to pay a compensation of Rs 5.32 lakh to a businessman for its “deficient” service, as it did not provide him accommodation when his flight from Tehran to Delhi was postponed by a day.

The Delhi State Consumer Commission held the airline liable to pay the amount to the flier for also making him and his assistant de-board at Bahrain and putting them on a flight to Bombay instead of Delhi, due to which he had to pay extra to travel to the national capital.

“It is crystal clear that accommodation at Tehran was not provided by the airline when the flight was cancelled on January 7, 2008 and had to be operated on the next day. The complainant had to incur expenses and also loss of business on account of inordinate delay on the part of airline.

“The airline took complainant and his assistant to Bombay and they were not given tickets from Bombay to Delhi, this also is sheer negligence on the part of opposite party 1 (Gulf Air),” a bench presided by members Salma Noor and V K Gupta said.

The commission directed the airline to pay Rs 5 lakh as compensation to Delhi resident R K Garg along with refund of Rs 32,010 paid by him to travel from Bombay to Delhi, observing that being an eminent industrialist; his every minute is very valuable.

Garg in his complaint had alleged that his flight from Tehran to Delhi scheduled for January 7, 2008 was postponed by a day and on the next day he and his assistant were put on another flight to Delhi via Bahrain.

At Bahrain, they were made to de-board as the seats had been allocated to someone else and they were put on a flight to Bombay instead of Delhi, he alleged adding that he had to pay additional to travel from Bombay to Delhi.

The airline denied Garg’s allegations and said he and his assistant had voluntarily chosen to travel to Bombay.

The commission, however, rejected the contention saying no evidence has been filed by the airline to support its stand.

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