TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1960 (2) TMI 52
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....ts line, to Shamli. As the Mills premises are situated a short distance away from the station platform the Mills had at the very time when it started functioning, a siding agreement with the Roy Company so that the trucks carrying the sugarcane are ultimately brought into the Mills siding from where the unloading takes place. The nearest point of the Mills siding from the station platform at Shamli is about 100 to 150 ft. away. Tile Rly. loco-motives bring the sugarcane trucks to this point-pt. A in the Plan-after which the Mills makes its own arrangement for taking them inside the sidings. After several increases from time to time which it is not necessary to mention, the charges payable in respect of sugarcane carried in the Railway Company's trucks and brought by the Railway Company's locomotives up to the point A stood on September 30, 1953, at the following figures:- Rs. Ans. ps. From Ailum 3 8 - Kandhla 3 8 - Khandraoli 3 8 - Hind 3 8 - Thanabhawan 3 8 - Nanautta 4 4 - Sona Arjunpur 4 4 - In each case a surcharge of annas 2 per rupee was added. Before this, however, on February 20, 1950, the Central Govt., had made an order....
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....pect of sugarcane. The main contention raised on behalf of the Railway Company was that as in increasing the charges the Administration had merely applied standardized terminal charges' no complaint lay in respect of the, same under section 41(1)(i). The Railway Company also further contended in this connection that considerable services, apart from the carriage of the goods, were rendered by the Company at each end and so, in any case, the terminal charges as standardized by notification by the Central Government were legally levied. The Tribunal by a majority held that this was not a case of application of a standardized terminal charge and so it had jurisdiction to consider the question. Shri L.M. Roy and Shri V. Subrahmanyan who formed the majority were of opinion that services were rendered only at the loading station, and not at Shamli; so only ₹ 4.11 annas out of the terminal charge of ₹ 9.6 was reasonable and only this amount could be levied on sugarcane in addition to the conveyance charges from the forwarding station. They ordered a reduction of terminal charge from ₹ 9.6 to ₹ 4.11. The President of the Tribunal Mr. Lokur, forming the minority....
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....om entering into an agreement as to 'what should be accepted as weight without actual weighment. Once such a fixation is agreed upon, the amount calculated on that figure at the rate fixed by Government must be deemed to be the amount properly payable in accordance with the rate fixed by Government. The fact that in some cases less than 150 mds. may be carried in a truck and in other cases more than 150 mds. may be carried does not affect the position that the party who is to pay and the party who is entitled to payment have accepted a particular figure as the weight carried, without actual weighment. When therefore ₹ 9.6 is sought to be levied as the terminal charge being equivalent to 6 pice per maund on 150 mds. at each end, it is really an application of the charge fixed by the Central Government. Nor are we impressed with the argument that the words used in the Local Rate Advice of August 1, 1953, which has been set out above show that a standardized terminal charge was not being levied but some other rate is sought to be levied. It is no doubt true that this Advice quotes " station to station rate "-the amount being then mentioned in two parts, one obvious....
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....is the argument that the Central Government Notification fixing 6 pies per maund as the , terminal charge at each end, where loading and Upper unloading is done by the owner, should be interpreted as permitting the levy of such charges only if some service in addition to the carriage is being performed. This argument is based on a view of the definition of the word " terminals " in s. 3(14) that " terminals " means charges for certain services rendered. Acceptance of that view will undoubtedly justify a conclusion that in fixing " terminals " the Central Government only authorized the charges to be levied, on certain services in addition to carriage having been rendered. If thereafter it is found that no such services were rendered the conclusion that will follow is that levy- ing of a charge at the end where no such services were rendered was not levying of a "standardized terminal charge." Assuming for the present, that on a proper interpretation of the definition of the word " terminals ", no terminal charge can be made unless some service in addition to the carriage of the goods is rendered, it is necessary to see whether the c....
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....for carriage up to the station platform of the destination station, anything done to assist the party after carriage is complete is a service in addition to carriage, that is, a terminal service. If the point A in the map is the distance up to which carriage is charged the view of the majority of the Tribunal that no additional service is being rendered by the Railway Company in bringing the trucks from the station platform up to point A is correct. If on the other hand, the carriage which is charged for is carriage up to the station platform of Shamli only, bringing the trucks from the station platform to point A where the sidings begin is clearly a terminal service. The majority of the Tribunal failed to appreciate this distinction and erred in law in assuming that because the siding commenced at A shunting of trucks from the station platform to A could not be a terminal service. The important question therefore is as regards the point up to which the carriage was being charged for. It is necessary to consider in this connection cls. 13 & 15 of the siding agreement. They are in these words:" Clause 13: Freight for all clauses of goods will be charged up to and from Shamli st....
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....amage caused in consequence of the failure of the Firm to arrange for such band shunting. It is important to notice that cl. 13 mentions in definite and categorical Ianguage that freight is charged up to and from Shamli station. It is reasonable to read the " station " here as the " station platform ". When in clause 15 it is agreed that the " wagons will be hauled by the Railway to and from the lines marked A and B " nothing is said about any charge being made therefor. It is impossible to read into the words used in el. 15(b) an implication that carriage up to point A was being charged for. On a proper reading of these clauses we think it reasonable to hold that carriage up to the station platform only was being charged for. The haulage of, the trucks from the station platform to point A was thus necessarily a service rendered by the Railway Company in addition to the carriage and so was a terminal service. It is clear therefore that even on the assumption made that on the definition of the terminals in s. 3(14) no charges are payable unless certain services in addition to carriage are performed by the Railway Company, terminals were leviable in the....
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....d our legislature has thought fit to avoid the use of the word "conveyance" and has provided for maximum and minimum being prescribed for rates as defined in s. 3(13), viz., as charges for " carriage ". It is obvious that carriage which is charged for under the " rates " may include something in addition to the actual conveyance, viz., collection of goods just before haulage starts and delivery of goods just after haulage ends. It is helpful to see that even in the English courts were the distinction between conveyance and carriage ran through the whole scheme of legislation in view of the historical growth of the Railways and the extension of their functions, services rendered after the point where the goods train detaches and deposits the trucks would prima facie be considered a terminal service; while if the train which detaches and deposits at a point short of where they would have been bound to take for the purposes of delivery to a distributing carrier in olden days, tile haulage between the two points cannot be charged for in addition to the conveyance charge. Applying the reasoning underlying this decision to lndian conditions we think it prope....
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....n respect of " are wide enough to permit charges being made as terminals so long as any of these things, viz., stations, sidings, wharves, depots, warehouses, cranes and other similar matters have been provided and are being maintained. The question is whether the import of this generality of language should be cut down for any reason. It is well- settled that a limited interpretation has to be made on words used by the legislature in spite of the generality of the language used where the literal interpretation in the general sense would be so unreasonable or absurd that the legislature should be presumed not to have intended the same. Is there any such reason for cutting down,the result of the generality of the language used present here ? The answer, in our opinion, must be in the negative. It is true that in many cases stations, sidings, wharves, depots, warehouses, cranes and other similar things will be used and it is arguable that in using the words " in respect of " the legislature had such user in mind. It is well to notice however that the legislature must have been equally aware that whereas in some cases accommodation provided by stations will be used, in ....
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....he provision of " and not " for the user of ". It is worth considering in this connection that the definition of " terminal charges " in the Indian Act is a verbatim reproduction of the definition appearing in the English Railway and Canals Traffic Act, 1888 and that only three years before the English Parliament passed that Act an English Court had held in Hall & Co. v. London, Brighton and South Coast Rly., Co. (2), that for the purposes of interpretation of section 51 of the London, Brighton, and South Coast Rly. Act, 1863 which did not include such a definition of terminal charges, the words " any service incidental to the duty or business of a carrier", does comprise providing such station accommodation and such sidings, and such weighing, checking and labelling as is incidental to the duty which they undertake, of collecting and dealing with the goods as carriers." It is reasonable to think that the English Parliament in defining " terminal charges " in the Railway and Canals Act, 1889 intended to give effect to this view that provision of station accommodation and sidings entitled the Railway Administration to levy " t....