Judgment

KRISHNA IYER, J.:- A small cause involving a party claim of Rs. 1147.42 has sailed slowly into the SC by special leave. Both sides - The Bombay Port Trust, appellant, and the New Great Insurance Co. (a nationalised institution), the contesting respondent - agree before us that while there is only a short point of law in the case, a large section of the business community, as well as the port Trust, are affected by the ambiguity of the legal situation and an early pronouncement by this Court on the law of limitation applicable to consignee s actions for short delivery by the Port Trust is necessary. Is the period so brief as six months in terms of Section 87 of the Bombay Port Trust Act, 1879 (hereinafter called the Act), and if so, does time being to run within around a week of the landing of the goods (suggested by Section 61A) of the Act? Or, alternatively, does the longer spell allowed by the limitation Act avail the plaintiff and the terminus a quo start only when the owner has been finally refused delivery? Although the Court in this case is enquiring whether the little delay alleged legally disentitles the plaintiff to claim the value of the lost goods, it is a pathet