Statutory tribunal jurisdiction cannot extend refund claims for wharfage and demurrage by treating them as freight.

A statutory tribunal can exercise only the jurisdiction expressly conferred by its parent statute. The Railway Claims Tribunal Act, 1987 permits refund claims for fares or freight paid for animals or goods entrusted to a railway administration, but separately defined charges under the Railways Act, 1989 cannot be merged into freight by interpretation. Freight covers carriage charges, while demurrage and wharfage are distinct statutory charges for detention and non-removal of goods. On that basis, the Tribunal had no jurisdiction to order refund of wharfage or demurrage as part of freight, and dismissal of the claim petition was correct.

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Issues: Whether the Railway Claims Tribunal had jurisdiction under Section 13(1)(b) of the Railway Claims Tribunal Act, 1987 to entertain a claim for refund of wharfage and demurrage charges by treating them as freight.

Analysis: The Tribunal is a creature of statute and can exercise only such jurisdiction as is expressly conferred. Section 13(1)(b) of the Railway Claims Tribunal Act, 1987 extends to claims for refund of fares or freight paid for animals or goods entrusted to a railway administration. By virtue of Section 2(o) of the 1987 Act, the expressions used but not defined therein take their meaning from the Railways Act, 1989. Under that Act, freight, demurrage and wharfage are separately defined: freight is the charge for carriage of goods, demurrage is the charge for detention of rolling stock beyond free time, and wharfage is the charge for not removing goods from the railway within free time. These charges may all arise in relation to goods carried by railways, but their separate statutory identity cannot be collapsed into a single concept of freight. The Tribunal therefore had no jurisdiction to order refund of wharfage or demurrage on the footing that they were part of freight.

Conclusion: The claim for refund of wharfage and demurrage was outside the Tribunal's jurisdiction, and the dismissal of the claim petition was correct.

Ratio Decidendi: A statutory tribunal cannot assume jurisdiction beyond the express words of its constituting statute, and a provision conferring power to decide refund claims for freight does not extend to separately defined charges such as wharfage and demurrage.

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