1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY O. O. C. J. SUIT NO.9 OF 2003 The Board of Trustees of the Port of Mumbai. ...Plaintiff. Versus Nihon Electronics Ltd. & Ors. ...Defendants. ....... Ms.Varsha Jain with Ms.Preeti Shah i/b. Motiwalla & Co. for the Plaintiff. None for the Defendants. ...... CORAM : DR. D.Y. CHANDRACHUD, J. August 31, 2009. P.C.: The First Defendant, the Court has been informed, has been ordered to be wound up. The Learned Advocate appearing on behalf of the Plaintiff seeks to withdraw the suit as against the First Defendant with liberty reserved to file a claim before the Official Liquidator concerned. The suit is accordingly dismissed as withdrawn as against the First Defendant with liberty reserved as prayed. 2. The suit has been instituted for recovery of the deficit, due and payable to the Port Trust, upon a sale conducted in accordance 2 with the provisions of the Major Port Trusts Act, 1963. 3. In November 1986, the First and Second Defendants imported a consignment of two cases, weighing 7,780 kg. of molunded dyes. The consignment was manifested in the Import General Manifest dated 17th November 1986 in which the names of the First and Second Defendants appeared as Consignees/importers. On the payment of Port Trust charges due upto 23rd March 1987, the Defendants were permitted to remove the consignment to the bounded warehouse on 24th March 1987. The period of bond expired on 2nd May 1987. The consignee incurred rental charges until 29th April 1996. 4. The First and Second Defendants were consignees/importers/owners, while the Third Defendant was the endorsee of the bill of lading and agent for the sale and custody of the consignment. The Defendants failed to clear the consignment, upon which, the Plaintiff addressed a letter dated 4th May 1998 to the First Defendant stating that the consignment was liable to be sold by public 3 auction. A notification of the sale was issued in the Government Gazette and the newspapers following which the consignment came to be sold on 25th April 2000 for Rs.65,705.25. The sale resulted a deficit of Rs.54,849.75. The Plaintiff has duly accounted for the expenses of the sale, customs duty and Port Trust charges including wharfage and demurrage. 5. The First Defendant has been ordered to be wound up. The suit has accordingly been allowed to be withdrawn as against the First Defendant with liberty reserved to file a claim before the Official Liquidator. The Second and Third Defendants have been served with the writ of summons, but have failed to file appearance. The suit has been listed as undefended suit for ex-parte decree. 6. The Plaintiff has filed an affidavit in lieu of the Examination-in-Chief of the Assistant Dock Manager who is present in the Court to verify the correctness of what is stated therein. The Plaintiff has produced a compilation of the original documents which inter alia contains a copy of the working sheet and allocation sheet 4 maintained in the usual course of business. The claim is duly established on the basis of the evidence on the record. The suit shall accordingly stand decreed in terms thereof with the modification that the Plaintiff is entitled to interest at the rate of 9% per annum from the date of the institution of the suit until payment or realization. ....