JUDGMENT

B.P. Routray, J. - Present Appellant-NALCO (National Aluminum Company Limited) is a Public Sector Undertaking Company. The Respondent-Union is the Railways Administration i.e. East Coast Railway (ECoR).

2. Order dated 27th April, 2022 of the Railway Claims Tribunal, Bhubaneswar Bench is impugned in the present appeal. In the impugned order, learned Tribunal has refused to condone the delay in presenting the application of the Appellant as not maintainable and dismissed the claim.

3. NALCO booked consignments of private rail wagons (rakes), Viz. BTAP, BTCS, BTPN for transportation by railways between Visakhapatnam - Damanjodi and vice-versa. There are two routes between the destination points, i.e. one route is KK Line and another KR Line. KK Line is the shorter route and KR Line is the longer route, and the difference is 100 Kms in distance between two. According to NALCO, though the consignments were booked through KR Line as per rationalization scheme, but in fact the railways hauled the rakes through the shorter route and charged freight for longer route.

4. NALCO raised a claim for refund of surplus freight charges, termed as overcharges, to the tune of Rs.63,55,93,751/-re