Bailee's responsibility when goods are not duly returned

Related judgements & precedents

These are some judgments that construed this section, and hold precedence value. They hold authority on how to read, interpret and use this section.

1. Chairman, Cochin Port Trust vs Hanjin Shipping India Pvt. LTD

   Supreme Court of India 05 Aug 2020 Binding - Supreme Court Three-Judge Bench Reportable (2018) 4 SCC 592 (for the Division Bench Reference Order)

   Court's Decision & Legal Precedent

   Upon the Major Port Trusts Act, 1963: (1) The point of time at which title to goods passes to the consignee is not relevant to determine the liability of the consignee or steamer agent in respect of charges to be paid to the Port Trust. (2) Once the Port Trust takes charge of goods and issues receipt therefor, the steamer agent may be held liable for Port Trust dues in connection with services rendered qua unloading of goods, but thereafter, the importer, owner, consignee or their agent is liable to pay demurrage charges for storage of goods. (3) The Port Trust, as 'State' under Article 12 of the Constitution, is bound by Article 14 constraints and must ordinarily sell goods within four months from the date of landing, unless reasonably justified otherwise. (4) Containers are receptacles for imported goods, not imported goods themselves; containers must be returned to steamer agents, and carrying goods in containers makes no difference to the principle that only the owner of goods or person entitled to goods is liable to pay demurrage. (5) The Port Trust is under a duty to destuff every container entrusted to it and return destuffed containers to appropriate persons within as short a period as is feasible where the owner/person entitled to goods does not come forward to take delivery. (6) The statutory scheme of the MPT Act allocates liability for storage charges post-custody exclusively to the owner/beneficial owner of goods, whether consignor, consignee, importer, or their agents, and never to the steamer agent post-custody.

   On this section: Bailee's responsibility regarding loss, destruction, deterioration of goods bailed

   Read the full order on eCourts India

The holding above is the ratio decidendi as extracted from the judgment by eCourts India, reproduced unaltered — it is a rendering of the court's reasoning, not a substitute for its words. Read the order itself before relying on it.