Kidwai, J. - (1.) This Full Bench has been constituted -to consider the following question which has been formulated by a Division Bench of this Court, namely : "Whether a consignee, who is not the owner of the goods but to whom the goods are consigned for the purpose of sale on commission basis, is entitled to maintain the suit for loss in respect of damage caused to the goods in transit?"
(2.) The facts necessary for the decision of this question are not disputed and lie within a very narrow compass. Four different persons each booked a wagon of oranges from Katol in C. P. (now Madhya Pradesh) for Lucknow. In each case the plaintiff-respondent was mentioned in the Railway Receipt as the consignee. The plaintiff took delivery of one wagon but found that the goods had deteriorated greatly owing to the late arrival of the wagons at Lucknow and he refused to take delivery of the other three wagons. He then instituted the four suits out of which these appeals arise for damages.
(3.) One of the defences taken by the appellants was that the plaintiff, being admittedly only a commission agent, had no 'locus standi' to maintain the suits.;