ORDER :- This is a plaintiffs application in revision against the judgment of the Small Cause Court Judge, Cuttack, dismissing the plaintiffs suit. Plaintiffs simple case was that he consigned 44 baskets of mangoes from Kantakapalli to Cuttack on 2-6-52 under the parcel way bill, Ex. I. In ordinary course, this consignment should have reached the destination the next day, that is, on 3-6-52; but on account of gross negligence and delay on the part 01 the Railway Administration, the parcel reached its destination on 5-6-1952 with the result that the contents were found to be rotten and unfit for human consumption.

The consignee, therefore, did not take delivery of the consignment, and hence the plaintiff filed the suit for recovery of a sum of Rs. 429/- after giving notice under S. 80, Civil P.C. to the defendant, that is, the General Manager of the Eastern Railway Administration. The defence of the defendant was that the notice under S. 80, Civil P.C., was not a proper and valid notice and, therefore, the plaintiffs suit is not maintainable, and that there was no delay or negligence or misconduct on the part of the Railway Administration.

2. But at the time of actual hearing in the C