S. Ravindra Bhat, J. - (1.) The Writ Petitioner in these proceedings under Article 226 of the Constitution of India seeks various directions against the first respondent (Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, hereafter called "IOC") to pay service charge of Rs. 15,69,597/ - with interest and also pay further service charge amounting to Rs. 2,00,70,000/ - and settle its bill dated 9.9.2004. Similar directions to settle the petitioner's claim towards payments are also sought.
(2.) Briefly the necessary facts are that the IOC erected a link line (chord line) between Baroda - E Cabin to Chhaya Puri Railway Station of Western Railways in 1971. This line was used by the IOC to transport rakes booked from Bajwa to north of Vadodra and were directly dispatched thus reducing 11 Kms. Apparently, in spite of this, the Western Railways incorrectly continued to charge more freight by including the 11 Kms. distance. The question of refund of excess freight charges had been engaging the attention of IOC and the Western Railways. The petitioner claims that being aggrieved by Railway's inaction in regard to refund of such excess payments, the IOC entered into contract with it for consultancy service to secure settlement of such outstanding claims. The consultancy contract, entered into on 1.7.2001 was valid for one year and extendable with mutual consent of the parties. Clause 2 of the contract defined the scope of service; the petitioner as Consultant was responsible for pursuing the matter with the Railways and getting IOC's claims settled. The petitioner was entitled to charges for the service rendered, in accordance with the Schedule - A to the contract; the same is in the following terms: Sr. No. Items of Works Schedule of Charges 1 Claim for compensation of (c) Rupees One Thousand missing tank wagons and per Tank Wagon. shortage/leakage claims. (d) Rupees Seven Hundred per Tank Wagon. (a) Cases beyond and upto 31.03.1997 (b) Cases after 31.03.1997 2 Reduction/Abolition/Refund of (a) i) 9% of amount freight charges from Railways realized from the on - Railways within 4 months. (a) Regular Claims (ii) 8% of amount realized from the Railways beyond 4 months but less than 7 months. (iii) 7% of amount realized from the Railways beyond 7 months. (b) Repudiated and Time (b) 15% of amount realized Bar/Suit Bar Claim. from the Railways. 3 Refund of amount wrongly 15% of the amount realized recovered by the Railways or or abolished or withdrawn or any debit raised by the adjusted/credited by the Railways for various services Railways and accepted by the such as siding charges/shunting IOC. charges/To pay surcharge/cost of Railway staff/penalty overloading/wagon registration/shunting -siding charges/Electrification/overhead maintenance etc./debit raised/recovered on various grounds by the Railways including reconciliation of accounts etc. 4 Freight audit of dispatching 15% of the amount realized locations under Western from the Railways. Region/IOC.
(3.) The petitioner claims to have followed up and "chased" 38,305 claims for the period 20.10.1996 to August, 2002. The initial term of the contract, which ended in end of June, 2001 was extended by mutual consent by a year. It is asserted that out of the 38,305 claims pursued, the petitioner was able to successfully secure settlements of 14, 348 claims; 23, 957 such claims continued to be pending. It is further alleged that IOC was beneficiary to the extent that Rs. 14.7 Crores were settled out of a total quantum of Rs. 33.92 Crores. The petitioner, therefore, claims that having regard to the progress achieved, the IOC should have ensured that its dues were paid.;