The Dominion Of India Formerly The ... vs Adam Haji Pir Muhamed Essac Represented ... on 31 July, 1952
228 a Full Bench decision of the Allahabad High Court followed by King J. in -- 'South Indian Railway v. Krishnaswami Naidu', 71 M. L. J. 325. The facts, of those cases were quite different and they were held to be not covered by Section 80, Railways Act, which enables a suit for compensation for injury to through booked traffic being brought either against the contracting railway administration or against the railway on which loss, injury, destruction or deterioration occurred. In the present case, 'there is clear and ample evidence to show that the deterioration occurred at Cuddalore, where the goods arrived in good time on 16-11-44. In two letters Ex. D. 21 dated 17-1-45 and Ex. D. 25 dated 25-1-45 written by railway officials 'inter se', there is a clear reference to the deterioration of these bags, and a request for instructions by wire if delivery can be made to invoice No. 6- Quite apart from this positive evidence of deterioration, the main grievance of the plaintiff is that although these bags arrived in Cuddalore on 16-11-1944, his representative was refused delivery and delivery was only offered more than 2 months later not only after the bags had deteriorated, but also after there had been a substantial fall in price. There can be no doubt that there was a muddle and a mistake arising out of negligence, amounting to misconduct on the part of the railway servants, which resulted in the delivery of these bags being refused to the plaintiff immediately after their arrival.