Special sizing charges recoverable under price control rules when coke must be processed to meet prescribed ISI specifications.
Statutory price control for coke did not make the notified sale price exhaustive where the governing order and notification separately contemplated additional charges for special sizing, beneficiation, transport beyond the specified distance, duties and levies. Coke that had to be screened, segregated and handled to conform to prescribed ISI specifications for foundry use was treated as requiring special sizing, so the seller could recover service or handling charges over and above the notified price. The purchaser's failure to contract expressly for a special size was immaterial because supply had to meet the prescribed statutory specification. The High Court's restriction on recovery beyond the notified price was therefore incorrect.
Issues: Whether the seller of hard coke was entitled, under the Colliery Control Order, 1945 and the notification fixing prices for coke, to recover service or handling charges in addition to the notified sale price when the coke had to be screened, sized and handled to conform to ISI specifications for foundry use.
Analysis: The statutory scheme empowered the Central Government to fix prices for coal and coke and also recognised that the notified price was not exhaustive of all recoverable amounts. The Order treated coke as included within coal, defined size by reference to ISI specifications, and contemplated separate pricing by grades and sizes. The notification fixed pit-head prices but also provided for transportation charges beyond the specified distance, recovery of duties and levies, and additional charges for special sizing or beneficiation. On the material before it, the coke produced at the plant had an unspecified size distribution and had to be segregated and handled so as to obtain the extra-large foundry coke conforming to the prescribed specification. That process was held to amount to special sizing within the meaning of the notification. The fact that the purchaser had not expressly contracted for a special size did not matter, because the statutory definition required supply according to the prescribed specifications.
Conclusion: The seller was entitled to recover the additional service or handling charges, and the restriction placed by the High Court on recovery beyond the notified price was incorrect.
Final Conclusion: The appeal succeeded, the High Court order was set aside, and the writ petition was dismissed.
Ratio Decidendi: Where a statutory price notification permits recovery of additional charges for special sizing or beneficiation, charges incurred in processing unsized coke to meet prescribed ISI specifications are recoverable over and above the notified sale price.
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