SHAHDARA DELHI SAHARANPUR LIGHT RAILWAY COMPANY LIMITED Vs. UPPER DOAB SUGAR MILLS LTD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) WHEN total charges payable in respect of goods traffic carried by a Railway are increased by the Railway Administration on the basis of terminals fixed by the Central government in pursuance of s. 32 of the Indian Railways Act, has the Railway Rates tribunal jurisdiction to investigate the reasonableness of the charge as thus increased ? That is the question raised in this appeal. Thefirst respondent, the Upper Doab Sugar Mills Ltd., manu-factures sugar in its Mills situated at Shamli. The sugarcane needed as its raw material has to be brought by the Company from different places in the neighbour hood. Itis in this connection that the appellant Railway Company's services are required. The Railway Company carries the sugarcane in trucks from several stations on its line, to Shamli. As the Mills premises are situated a short distance away from the station platform the Mills had at the verytime when it started functioning, a siding agreement with the Roy Company so that the trucks carrying the sugarcane are ultimately brought into the Mills siding from where the unloading takes place.

(2.) The nearest point of the Mills siding from the station platform at Shamli is about 100 to 150 ft. away. The Rly. locomotives bring the sugarcane trucks to this point - pt. A in the Plan - after which the Mills makes its own arrangement for taking them inside the sidings. After several increases from time to time which it is not necessary to mention, the charges payable in respect of sugarcane carried in the Railway Company's trucks and brought by the Railway Company's locomotives up to the point A stood on September 30, 1953, at the following figures :- <FRM>JUDGEMENT_695_AIR(SC)_1960Html1.htm</FRM> In each case a surcharge of annas 2 per rupee was added.

(3.) THE main contention raised on behalf of the Railway Company was that as in increasing the charges the Administration had merely applied standardized terminal charges' no complaintlay in respect of the,same under S. 41(1)(i). THE Railway Company also further contended in this connection that considerable services, apart from the carriage of the goods, were rendered by the Company at each end and so, in any case, the terminal charges as standardized by notification by the Central government were legally levied. THE tribunal by a majority held that this was not a case of application of astandardized terminal charge and so it had jurisdiction to consider the question. Shri L.M. Roy and Shri V.Subrahmanyan who formed the majority were of opinion that services were rendered only at the loading station, and notat Shamli; so only Rs. 4.11 annas out of the terminal charge of Rs. 9.6 was reasonable and only this amount could belevied on sugarcane in addition to the conveyance chargesfrom the forwarding station. THEy ordered a reduction of terminal charge from Rs. 9.6 to Rs. 4.11. THE President of the tribunal Mr. Lokur, forming the minority, was of opinion that the tribunal had no jurisdiction to consider the question of reasonableness. He was also of opinion that terminal services were rendered by the respondent Railways both at the loading station and also after the carriage was complete at Shamli.