You can cancel a PQWL ticket, but you don't have to. If it was purchased online, and remained waiting at the time of charting, your refund will be automatically credited to your account in 3–4 days.
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IRCTC Refund Rules of Waitlist TicketsAs per IRCTC refund rules, if you have a Waitlisted e-Ticket (GNWL, RLWL, or PQWL) and its status remains the same even after the chart has been made, you will be refunded the fare automatically by IRCTC after deducting applicable fees.
If you have booked the ticket online through IRCTC and it doesn't get confirmed until charting, IRCTC will refund your amount. Hence traveling on PQWL, no matter what class you're in, will be treated as ticketless travel and penalized accordingly.
Once the tickets from the Pooled Quota is filled, PQWL tickets are issued. Chances of PQWL tickets getting confirmed are usually very low, as in the priority list of waiting list tickets it comes after GNWL.
If you have a PQWL ticket, it means you are on the waiting list for a specific quota. Whether you can travel or not depends on whether your ticket gets confirmed before the journey date. If your ticket is not confirmed, you may not be allowed to board the train.
PQWL tickets are distributed once the Pooled Quota tickets have sold out. Confirmation of PQWL tickets is unlikely because they are lower on the priority list than even the GNWL tickets.
All types of waiting lists are WL. GNWL is the best. You will get into it if you book from the starting station, or from a few particular 'charting' stations en-route. PQWL is a special type of WL which combines short journey spans on a longer route.