RAGHUNATH EXPORTS LTD Vs. PAREKH MARINE AGENCIES

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Judgment of the Court was as follows : A much-answered question falls for consideration once again.

(2.) The company resists an order of admission sought on a creditor's winding up petition not only on the basis of the dispute it claims it has raised but also on the propriety of the company Court in inquiring into the merits of the dispute as a suit founded on such dispute has been instituted by the company. It is irrelevant, according to the company, whether the suit was instituted before or after receipt of the statutory notice ; that a suit is pending and that the same is not demurrable is enough to ward off winding up proceedings against the company touching upon such matters.

(3.) The petitioner was the carrier of goods shipped by the company. The goods were to be partly carried by sea and partly by road. They were to be discharged by the vessel at Felixstowe in the United Kingdom and carried by road to Speke in containers. According to the petitioner, upon the cargo being discharged at Felixstowe, it was discovered that one of the containers was damaged and four others were found to contain more than the rated payload and three of the containers weighed more than the weight permissible in the country of discharge. The petitioner contends that following negotiations between the Chinese principal of the petitioner and the company, the company accepted that it would bear the additional charge for devanning at Felixstowe for further carriage by road to Speke upon maintaining the permissible limits.