UNION OF INDIA Vs. BHAGABAN ROUT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) PLAINTIFF despatched 629 baskets of mangoes from Ellore station on 11-6-57 to cuttack Station. The consignment in a whole wagon reached Cuttack on 20-6-57. Plaintiffs' case is that the usual time for arrival of the consignment was 5 days. Though the consignment was booked in good condition, at the time of delivery they were found to be rotten and unfit for human consumption. An open delivery was taken and the Station Master, Cuttack, granted a certificate showing damage of mangoes at sixty per cent. The damage was due to unusual delay in the arrival of the consignment. Defendant was responsible for the damage caused by the delay. The suit was for recovery of Rs. 3924/4/ -. The defence case is that the goods were sent at owner's risk. It was clearly stated in the railway-receipt that the goods were liable to perish, in transit. The distance between Ellore to Cuttack is 477 miles and the usual period of transit cannot be less than 7 days. The Courts below concurrently found that the delay was unreasonable and it was responsible for the damage. They decreed the plaintiffs' suit for an amount of Rs. 3890/7/ -. The defendant has filed the second appeal.

(2.) THERE is no dispute that there was sixty per cent damage of the mangoes. The only point for consideration is whether the defendant was responsible for the damage. The findings of the lower appellate Court are that the consignment was despatched at the risk of the owner, the usual time for a consignment of mangoes to reach from Ellore to Cuttack is 4 to 5 days, the consignment reached Cuttack in 9 days, the delay of 4 to 5 days was unusual and was responsible for the damage, and the goods were sent in good condition at the time of loading.

(3.) EXHIBITS 7 and 8 show that consignments of mangoes from Ellore to Cuttack reached Cuttack within 4 and 5 days respectively. D. W. 2, the goods clerk at cuttack, deposed that the normal time for arrival of mango wagons from Ellore to cuttack was 5 to 6 days. This evidence is not, however, enough to hold that the delay was unreasonable or unusual.