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2002 (2) TMI 104 - SC - CustomsWhether the Appellant allowed the goods to remain with the 1st Respondent knowing full well that further demurrage charges would be incurred? Held that:- The 1st Respondent should have sold off the goods at that stage. They are a statutory body. Merely because there is no obligation to sell does not mean that they can allow the goods to lie around. By this time the 1st Respondent well knew that the Appellant was not paying the charges. Now the Court had permitted them to take recourse to such action as was available in law. Sale is contemplated in the Major Port Trusts Act itself. In our view the 1st Respondent should have now sold the goods. Apart from the fact that demurrage charges would have stopped running, valuable godown space would also have become available to them. On facts of this case, we feel that it would be just and proper that the 1st Respondent not be allowed to charge demurrage charges after 10th January, 1992. If the Appellant wants clearance of the goods he has to pay all charges of the 1st Respondent till 10th January, 1992. In the event of the Appellant not clearing the goods after paying all charges within 30 days from today the 1st Respondent will be at liberty to take action under Section 62 of the Major Port Trusts Act and also, if permissible in law to do so, to make a claim against the Appellant for recovery of the balance amount due after sale of the goods.
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