SANJAY KISHAN KAUL, J.

1. The present appeal arises out of a long drawn dispute over the last 27 years with a Public Insurance Company and a Public Sector Corporation arrayed against each other.

2. The claim of the respondent for loss of goods on account of unprecedented rain at Kandla Port was rejected by the appellant-Insurance Company. The only question thus is as to which pocket of the government is enriched.

3. The respondent is a Public Sector Corporation and acts as a canalizing agent of the Government of India inter alia for export of rice. The respondent thus purchases rice from different locations in India which is shipped through different ports including the one at Kandla.

4. The appellant is a subsidiary of the General Insurance Corporation of India. The appellant issued an Open Marine Inland Transit Insurance Policy ('the Policy' in short) for the benefit of the respondent in respect of the rice which was being shipped. Unprecedented rain and cyclone hit the Kandla Port on 09/10.07.1981 which, as per the respondent, affected 22,538 metric tons of rice. The respondent thus made a claim for loss of Rs. 1.64 crores under the Policy. The claim was, however, rejecte