BHARAT PRIVATE LIMITED Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant-plaintiff filed a suit being City Civil Suit No. 184 of 1961 for a declaration that the freight rate charged by the Western India Railway in respect of the plaintiffs consignments of wood from Canada was unauthorised and wrongful and that the correct freight rate was Re. 0-12-1 and not the freight rate at Rs. 1-11-8 charged for carrying freight of maple-wood. He therefore sued to recover Rs. 5349-3-0 by way of refund as being the excess amount of freight recovered from him.

(2.) The appellant had received a consignment of blocks of canadian wood for manufacture of Bobbins from Canada. Those pieces of wood were despatched in 5 wagons from the Bombay Port Trust to the Railway Station at Kankaria between 27th to 31st October 1955 and of the five receipts prepared one was made out describing the wood as birch maple wood blocks and in the receipts regarding the four other consignments the wood was described to be brich wood. It was claimed that the freight chargeable for birch wood would fall within category 2 on the basis not otherwise classified timber and was chargeable at the rate at Re. 0-12-1 per Bengali Maund. It was therefore claimed that Rs. 1707-5-3 had been charged in excess.

(3.) Similarly consignment of birch wood and birch wood blocks were forwarded in 13 wagons to Kankaria Railway Station between 9th November 1955 to 28th March 1956 but the wood despatched was classified as maple-wood and the freight rate charged was at the rate of Rs. 1-8-11 which was wrongly charged. He therefore claimed a total refund of Rs. 5349-3-0 from the Western Railway.