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1975 (9) TMI 170 - SUPREME COURTLevy of demurrage - Whether the scale of fees under which the appellants charge demurrage is void as being unreasonable and as being beyond their powers? Whether the 1st respondent is liable to pay the demurrage claimed by the appellants? Held that:- The High Court was therefore in error in holding the scale of rates fixed by the Board as ultra vires and void on the grounds that it is unreasonable and that it is in excess of the power conferred by section 42 of the Act. The 1st respondent had no title to or interest in the goods except to deliver them in accordance with the instructions of the Corporation. If the appellants were to enforce their statutory lien, the incidence of the demurrage would have fallen on the Corporation in whom the title to the goods was vested. The appellants permitted the goods to be cleared without then demanding the demurrage which they claimed later, thereby depriving the 1st respondent of an opportunity to reject the goods as against the supplier unless, of course, the Corporation was within to accept them and along with them the liability for the payment of demurrage. In the absence of any more facts we find it impossible on the record as it stands, to accept the appellants' claim against the 1st respondent. Therefore, hold that the claim against the 1st respondent must also fail. In the result, we confirm the decree of the High Court dismissing the appellants' suit, though for entirely different reasons.
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