Mr. Justice S.A. Shah, President—The appellant is the original complainant who had sent two parcels containing marriage invitation cards to his brother at London through Head Post Office, Bhuj on or about January 31,1991. Such parcels are generally delivered within 15 to 20 days. The complainant received a letter from his brother that the parcels containing invitation cards had still not been received and, therefore, the complainant gave an application to the respondent on 16.3.91 requesting to do the needful in the matter. The marriage was to take place on 12.5.91 but upto 12.5.91 the London party had not received the parcels and the London party had to give order for printing invitation cards and incurred expenses. On 13.5.91 the complainant filed a complaint before the District Forum, Kachchh at Bhuj for the compensation and damages due to deficiency in service.

2. The complainant had sent two parcels and paid total amount of Rs. 2687/- It may be noted that these were not ordinary/registered letter sent by the complainant but parcels were sent for which a very high amount of charges has been paid exceeding Rs. 2600/-. Both the parcels were registered and definitely they have not reached London till the date of marriagesay some 3Vi months after the date of despatch. The parcel usually takes 15 to 20 days. If the parcels contained marriage invitation cards and the marriage was on 12.5.91 and if the cards do not reach before that date, definitely the complainant would suffer irreparable loss/ damages and he had to get the new invitation cards printed and had to post the same so as to reach the invitation cards prior to the date of marriage. According to the complainant, till today these parcels have not reached the destination.

3. According to rules of the post office, these parcels were to be delivered at the address of the brother of the complainant and it is not the case of any party that these parcels have been delivered at the address of the brother of the complainant. In para 2 of the written statement, the opponent has stated that as per the report of the Supdt. of Foreign Air Mails the parcels were despatched to its destination No 5.2.91 and reclamation inquiry has been issued by them to the foreign administration. On receipt of reply from office of destination through Foreign administration final disposal of the parcels will be available. Thus, it is not established that the parcels are lost. Nowhere in the written statement it is stated that the parcels have ever reached to the brother of the complainant i.e. the addressee. Those were reistered parcels and, therefore, receipt has to be obtained if the parcels have reached the destination. No such receipt has been produced by the post office. There is no evidence worth name to prove that the parcels have been delivered to the addressee or that they have reached London and the same have not been released by the addressee though according to our opinion it was the responsibility of the Postal Department to deliver the same at the residence of the addressee. Assuming for the sake of argument that the parcels have reached London, there is no direct evidence how it has reached. Even if it has reached London after the date of marriage, the Kumkum patrika sent was merely piece of paper and not useful. Therefore, there is no doubt whatsoever that the post office was totally indifferent and negligent in not delivering the parcels for which the post office has charged huge consideration exceeding Rs. 2600/-.

4. The written statement filed by the post office neither be as any verification nor it is supported by any affidavit. Therefore, it cannot be taken into consideration as it has no evidential value. However, a legal contention has been raised by Mr. Dave, learned Counsel appearing on behalf of the opponent that under Section 6 of the Post Office Act, the post office is not responsible for any damage since they do not guarantee safe delivery of the parcel. We are constrain