TMI Blog1968 (12) TMI 96X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... espondent before us. The Tribunal determined that the existing charges being recovered by the North Eastern Railway were unreasonable, and unjustified and that the railway was not entitled to recover any charge for the haulage of the wagons over the assisted siding. A similar appeal was decided by this Court in Union of India V. The Indian Sugar Mills Association(1). It was decided in that case that the complaint to the Tribunal was competent under s. 41 (1) (c) of the Indian Railways Act, 1890. Mr. Bindra, the learned counsel for the appellant, has raised in substance three points before us : ( 1 ) that on the pleadings the Tribunal was not justified in adjudicating upon the charges levied for the maintenance of the assisted siding; (2) th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ed to the mill and for the des- patch of goods sent out from the mill through the Railway. Under the agreement the respondent had to pay fixed half yearly charge amounting to ₹ 917.20, representing 10% of the capital invested by the railway in the construction of the assisted siding, for its use. This half yearly payment continued till 1958 when the Railway gave a notice to the respondent on February 8, 1958, intimating that on the expiry of six months from the date of the receipt of the notice revised charges at the following rates would be levied in lieu of the fixed contribution that was being paid to the respondent railway : (1) ₹ 779.56 towards interest on the capital and cost of maintenance of the permanent way, points ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... and also of the station buildings and goods shed. Lines numbers 1 and 2 marked in this sketch are the running lines. Lines numbers 3 and 4 are the transfer lines which constitute the assisted siding. Admittedly, lines numbers 3 and 4 are within railway premises and are completely on railway property. From the junction where these two lines meet there is another line proceeding to the complainants' factory. This line is entirely within the property owned by the complainants and it is the private siding of the com- plainants. Coming to the first point raised by the learned counsel; this point was debated before 'the Tribunal. The Tribunal, after examining the original complaint, the amendments made in it, and the evidence led by t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ge and to attack the same in the complaint as an unreasonable levy has caused any prejudice to the respondent .... Accordingly, I hold that the reasonableness or otherwise of all the charges levied by the respondent in respect of the assisted siding in question can and ought to be considered under issue number 4. The learned counsel for the appellant has not been able to show that the Tribunal has misdirected itself in any manner in coming to the above conclusion. He drew our attention to a decision of the Privy Council in Siddik Mahomed Shah v. Mt. Saran(1) where the Privy Council observed that no amount of evidence can be looked into upon a plea which was never put forward. This Court in Nagubai Ammal v. B. Shama Rao (2 ) discussed ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ) read thus : 29(1) The Central Government may by general or special order fix maximum and minimum rates for the whole or any part of a railway and prescribe the conditions in which such rates will apply; (2) The Central Government may, by a like order, fix the rates of any other charges for the whole or any part of a railway and prescribe the conditions in which such rates of charges shall apply. The word rate is defined in s. 2(13) thus 'rate' includes any fare, charge or other payment for the carriage of any passenger, animal or goods; The learned counsel for the appellant contends that this Court in Union of India v. Indian Sugar Mills Association(2) correlated S. 41 (1 ) (c) to any other charges mentioned i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r amount of any other charges. The definition of the word rate cannot possibly be applied to s. 29(2) of the Act. Coming to the third point, the Tribunal after reviewing the evidence came to the following conclusion .lm15 From the above discussions of the evidence, it is clear that the goods consigned to the complainants' mills and despatched from the mills cannot be effectively handled at the goods shed siding without the use of the assisted siding. Under the existing facilities at the station it is practically impossible to deal with the complainants' traffic at the goods shed. Any attempt in that direction would involve very heavy expenditure on the part of the railway and would also involve larger time and works as compared ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
