Document Fragment View
Fragment Information
Showing contexts for: constructive loss in Asstt. Excise Commissioner vs Issac Peter on 22 February, 1994Matching Fragments
19. We may at this stage deal with the decision in Union Territory of Pondicherry v. P.V. Suresh6 a decision rendered by a Bench comprising one of us (Jeevan Reddy, J.) and S.P. Bharucha, J. upon which strong reliance is placed by Shri Vaidyanathan. According to the learned counsel, the facts of that case are similar to the present cases and, therefore, a relief similar to the one granted therein must also be granted to the licensees herein. In our opinion, the learned counsel is not right in his submission that the facts of both the cases are similar. In that case, the administration had kept back did not disclose one basic term of the contract. For the preceding year, the supply of arrack was fixed at one decalitre a day for an annual bid amount of Rs 18,000. At the time of auction, it was not disclosed by the authorities that they have changed the rate of supply to one decalitre to the annual bid of Rs 40,000 a very substantial reduction of supply. The said change in rate of supply was disclosed to the licensees for the first time after they commenced their business. It was thus found by the High-Court and this Court that the administration was at fault in suddenly changing the rate of supply at the very, inception of the contract. The second distinguishing feature is that in that case the sale price (at the hands of the licensees) was fixed by the administration itself. No licensee could charge more. Whereas in this case, neither any term of contract much less, an essential term has been kept back from the licensees nor is the sale price of arrack fixed by the Government. Mr Vaidyanathan however, relied upon the following observations in the said judgment : (SCC p. 77, para I 1) "In the circumstances of this case, our inquiry is limited to the question whether the contract was so constructed that loss was inherent and implicit in it; if so, it ought to be modified. Otherwise, the Court has no jurisdiction to alter the terms or rewrite the contract between the parties."