The admission of weight in the railway receipt is not conclusive as to the actual weight of the consignment and the railway is not liable for the shortage in weight of the consignment.

ORDER :- The defendant railway is the petitioner in this Civil Revision directed against the judgment of the S.C.C. Judge, Berhampur, in S.C.C. Suit No. 120 of 1957 whereby the learned Judge decreed the plaintiffs suit for Rs. 373/- for alleged loss of some consignment of medicines stated to have been entrusted to the defendant railway at Howrah to be delivered to the plaintiff consignee at Berhampur, (Ganjam) on the South Eastern Railway.

2. The facts, shortly, are these : On August 20, 1956, the said consignment of medicine was booked at Howrah Station. Four days thereafter on August 24, 1956, delivery of the case containing the consignment was made at Berhampur. The weight of the goods as per railway receipt was stated to be 17 seers but the weight found at the time of delivery was 91/2 seers, that is to say, 71/2 seers short. Ext. 4, the shortage certificate, reads as follows :

"Case arrived in sound and intact condition and delivered under D/R. On demand reweighment found 9 1/2 seers against R/R weight 17 seers. Hence short weight only certified".

Thereafter, the plaintiff took the case home and opened it in the presence of P.Ws. 2 and 3. The basis of the plaintiffs claim in the suit is alleged shortage of medicine worth Rs. 306/8/-. The trial Court, on evidence, decreed the suit for the amount claimed including profit and other incidental charges as aforesaid. Hence, this Civil Revision.

3. The only defence, which the defendant railway petitioner in this revision pressed before this Court, is on the stand taken by the Railway that an admission of weight in the railway receipt is not an admission of actual weight and the Railway is not thereby bound. The mention of weight in the R/R is stated to be based on the consignors statement. Rule 15 of the Tariff Rules which is described as General Rules for Acceptance, Carriage and Delivery of Goods (Goods Tariff No. 29 in force from 1st June 1954 - Sanjiwa Rows "The Indian Railways Act", 3rd Edition, page 1183), reads as follows :

"15. Right to correct charges under receipt notes- The weight, description and classification of goods and quotation of rates as given in the Railway receipt and forwarding note are merely inserted for the purpose of estimating the railway charges and the railway reserves the right of remeasurement, reweighment, reclassification and recalculation of rates, terminals and other charges and correction of any other errors at the place of destination and of collecting any amount that may have been omitted or undercharged. No admission is conveyed by a Railway receipt that the weight as shown therein has been received or that the description of goods as furnished by the consignor is correct".

Mr. B.K. Pal, appearing for the Railway, relied on Rule 15 in support of his contention that mention, in the Railway receipt that the case weighed 17 seers is not conclusive as its actual weight and the alleged consequent liability of the railway therefor.

4. On the interpretation of Rule 15 of Goods Tariff Rules quoted above, Mr. Pal relied on the position in law, as interpreted by the Courts, as follows :

Where the weight of a consignment shown in a railway receipt is the mean weight and not actual weight, it is merely for the purpose of calculating the railway charges and the administration reserves the right for remeasurements both under the receipt and the Goods Tariff Rules; it is not an admission by the Company that the weight accepted prima facie for the purpose of charging freight is the actual weight; Rule 15 clearly specifies that the Railway receipt contains no admission of weight.

In a Madras case, relied on, on behalf of the railway, the High Court, while dismissing a petition in revision made by the claimant against the railway, took into consideration a further circumstance that under Rule 15, Goods Tariff General Rules, the railway administration does not admit that the weight as shown in the railway receipt has been received or the description of the goods as f