Judgment

SIKRI, J: This appeal by special leave is directed against the order of the Railway Rates Tribunal hereinafter referred to as the Tribunal at Madras, dated March 25, 1965, determining reasonable rates at which siding charges can be recovered from the complainants, Motilal Padampat Sugar Mills Co. (P) Ltd., now respondent before us. The Tribunal determined that the existing charges being recovered by the North Eastern Railway were unreasonable and unjustified and that the railway was not entitled to recover any charge for the haulage of the wagons over the assisted siding.

2. A similar appeal was decided by this Court in Union of India v. The Indian Sugar Mills Association, 1967-3 SCR 219 . It was decided in that case that the complaint to the Tribunal was competent under S. 41(1)(c) of the Indian Railways Act, 1890.

3. Mr. Bindra, the learned counsel for the appellant, has raised in substance three points before us: (1) that on the pleadings the Tribunal was not justified in adjudicating upon the charges levied for the maintenance of the assisted siding; (2) that the Tribunal had no jurisdiction under Section 41 (1) (c) of the Act to determine the reasonableness of the charges levied far maintaining the assisted siding; and (3) that the Tribunal has erred in holding that the Railway was not entitled to haulage charges for lines 3 and 4.

4. In order to appreciate the points raised by the learned counsel it is necessary to give a few facts, as determined by the Tribunal. The respondent company was incorporated in the year 1932 with its registered office at Kamla Tower, Kanpur, in the State of Uttar Pradesh. The Company erected a sugar mill at Majhowlia, in the district of Champaran in the State of Bihar, and started manufacturing sugar in the year 1933. The bulk of sugarcane required for the manufacture of sugar was transported to the respondent s mill from the sugarcane growing areas in the neighbourhood of Majhowlia by the appellant Railway. When the respondent started manufacture of sugar in the year 1933 the railway in that region was operated by the Bengal and North Western Railway Company Limited, which was later taken over by the Secretary of State in Council and is now owned and administered by the Government of India as the North Eastern Railway. By an agreement dated November 25, 1933, between the respondent and the Bengal and North Western Railway Company Limited the Railway agreed to provide an assisted siding at the Majhowlia railway station to afford better facilities for the delivery of goods consigned to the mill and for the despatch of goods sent out from the mill through the Railway. Under the agreement the respondent had to pay fixed half yearly charge amounting to Rs. 917.20, representing, 10 per cent of the capital invested by the railway in the construction of the assisted siding, for its use. This half-yearly payment continued till 1958 when the Railway gave a notice to the respondent on February 8, 1958, intimating that on the expiry of six months from the date of the receipt of the notice revised charges at the following rates would be levied in lieu of the fixed contribution that was being paid to the respondent railway:

(1) Rs. 779.56 towards interest on the capital and cost of maintenance of the permanent way, points and crossing and interlocking connected therewith; and

(2) siding charge at the rate of Re. 1 per four-wheeled wagon hauled over the siding subject to a minimum of Rs. 7 per shunt.

These new rates were, enforced on the expiry of the six months notice. In March 1960, the Railway desired that a fresh agreement be entered into with effect from April 1, l960. As the terms seemed onerous the respondent protested and some correspondence ensued. Ultimately the Railway by letter dated August 21, 1962, intimated to the respondent that with effect from March 1 1963, the old agreement dated November 25, 1933, would stand terminated and the siding facilities would be withdrawn. The respondent had