Statutory port demurrage applies despite importer fault, and "free days" are limited to the days expressly listed.

A statutory port demurrage scale, once sanctioned and published, carries the force of law, so liability to pay demurrage does not depend on whether the importer caused the delay, unless the governing statute or valid scale imposes that limitation. The Court also construed "free days" narrowly, holding that the dock scale excluded only the specific days enumerated in it, such as Sundays, holidays, and days when customs duty could not be assessed or received, and not the whole period of pending import trade control formalities. Demurrage was therefore recoverable during detention, and the wider claim to free storage days was rejected.

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Issues: (i) Whether demurrage under the Port Trust scale of rates was leviable during the period when goods were detained by the Customs authorities for import trade control formalities, even though the delay was not attributable to the importer's default. (ii) Whether the expression "free days" in the dock scale excluded the period during which import trade control formalities remained incomplete.

Issue (i): Whether demurrage under the Port Trust scale of rates was leviable during the period when goods were detained by the Customs authorities for import trade control formalities, even though the delay was not attributable to the importer's default.

Analysis: The Board's scale of rates for demurrage was framed under statutory powers and, after Central Government sanction and publication, had the force of law. The Court held that the statutory scheme placed no limitation making demurrage dependent on importer fault. The earlier Government letter did not amount to a binding direction under section 43B(1A). The Court followed the principle that where lawful rates are fixed under statute, liability to pay them cannot be avoided merely because the delay arose from causes beyond the importer's control, absent any default by the Port Trust itself.

Conclusion: Demurrage was lawfully recoverable during the period of detention for import trade control formalities, and the contention that the importer was not liable because the delay was not his fault was rejected.

Issue (ii): Whether the expression "free days" in the dock scale excluded the period during which import trade control formalities remained incomplete.

Analysis: The dock scale allowed specified free storage days and directed exclusion of Sundays, holidays, and other days on which customs duty could not be assessed or received. The Court construed this provision as referring only to those enumerated days and not to the entire period occupied by import trade control formalities. The wider construction suggested by the respondent was therefore not accepted.

Conclusion: The period of detention pending completion of import trade control formalities did not qualify as "free days" within the scale.

Final Conclusion: The statutory demurrage charges were upheld and the appeal succeeded, with no direction for refund of the amount already withdrawn and no order as to costs.

Ratio Decidendi: When a public port trust frames a scale of demurrage under statutory authority and the scale is duly sanctioned and published as having the force of law, liability to pay demurrage is governed by that statutory scale and does not depend on proof of importer fault, unless the statute or valid scale itself provides such a limitation.

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