LAWS(PVC)-1926-4-23

BALDEO SAHAI Vs. BBAND CIRAILWAY

Decided On April 06, 1926
BALDEO SAHAI Appellant
V/S
BBAND CIRAILWAY Respondents

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This case concerns the operation of the Risk Note Form B" provided for the use of consignors of goods. The document is not happily worded. Difficulty arises not infrequently in the trial Courts in determining how for each party has discharged the shifting burden of proof laid upon him by the terms of the document. The facts to which we have to apply the law are simple and are as follows:

(2.) On the 23 of June 1920, 14 bales of cloth were despatched on behalf of the plaintiffs from Bombay to be delivered by the Railway at Khurja. Thirteen bales were delivered to the plaintiffs at Khurja on July the 14th, 1920, but the 14 bale was never delivered. The plaintiffs brought this suit for the delivery of the 14th bale and damages Rs. 206-10-3, or in the alternative Rs. 952, the value of the missing bale and, in addition, the damages already mentioned. After the case had been dismissed by the Court of first instance and remanded by the lower appellate Court for the defendant Railway to be given an opportunity to produce evidence in regard to the "loss" of the missing bale, the suit was finally dismissed by the learned District Judge on February the 26th, 1923.

(3.) The only point with which we are concerned in this appeal is whether the defendant Company was protected under the circumstances of the case by the Risk Note Form "B." After the remand the defendant produced the evidence of two Railway servants, one of whom proved that the wagon in which the bales were enclosed had its seals intact at the Station Kotah; the other proved that at Agra East Bank one of the seals of the wagon was not in order and one bale of cotton was found to be missing. From these facts the learned District Judge has stated his conclusions of fact quite correctly. He says: It appears quite clear from the evidence that the defendant has proved that this bale was stolen either between Kotah and Agra East Bank or possibly at Agra East Bank or possibly at Kotah.