Case: The River Steam Navigation Co., Lt.D Vs. Shyam Sundar Tea Co., Ltd

The appellant companies are joint owners of Steamer service between Dibrugrah and Calcutta. The main service is along the Brahmputra River. Desang is one of the tributaries of the Brahmputra and meets the main stream at Desangmukh Ghat. The plaintiffs case in the plaint was that the defendant companies as common carriers received goods at Dillibari Ghat which is situated on the Desang about 70 miles up- stream from Desangmukh Ghat for carriage therefrom by boats to Desangmukh Ghat and then by their steamers to different stations on payment of freight. It is further the plaintiff case that on September 10, 1946, the plaintiff company delivered 120 chests of tea to the defendants at Dillibari Ghat for carrying therefrom and delivery of the same at Kidderpore in Calcutta. The boat carrying these. tea chests sank; the tea chests were lost and could not be salvaged. The accident was, according to the plaintiff, due to the negligence on the part of the defendant companies agents and servants. On this ground of negligence as also on the ground that the companies as common carriers were liable to make good the loss whether or not there was negligence, the plaintiff claimed the sum of Rs. 1, 6, 224-12- 0-is compensation for the lossThe defendants raised a four-fold defence. The first contention was that there was no delivery to the defendants at all at Dillibari Ghat and the defendants did not undertake any carriage of the goods from Dillibari Ghat. Secondly, it was said that the sinking of the boat was not due, to any negligence on the part of the defendants servants. The third contention that the defendants were not a common carrier in respect of carriage of goods from Dillibari Ghat to Desang. Lastly it was pleaded that in any case the conditions of the Forwarding Note which was executed by the plaintiff company completely absolved the defendants from all liability. The trial Court held on a consideration of the evidence that the goods were delivered by the plaintiff to the defendants at Dillibari Ghat for carriage from there to Kidderpore, Calcutta. It also held that the sinking of the boat was due to negligence on the part of the defendants servants. Accordingly, without coming to a clear conclusion whether the defendants were common carriers or not in respect of this contract of carriage the Trial Court gave the plaintiff a decree for the sum as claimed.On appeal the High Court of Assam affirmed this decree, though not for quite the same reasons. The High Court agreed with the Trial Courts conclusion. that there was delivery of the goods to the defendants by the plaintiff at Dillibari Ghat for carriage therefrom. On the question whether the sinking of the boat was due to the negligence of the defendants servants the learned Judges of the High Court did not however accept the Trial Courts view. Their opinion, it appears, was that the plaintiff had not been able to establish the case of negligence on the part of the defendants servants. The High Court however came to the conclusion that the defendants undertook this carriage from Dillibari Ghat in their capacity as common carriers and so the question whether there , was negligence or not was irrelevant. The High Court also found that the terms and conditions of the Forwarding Note did not in any way absolve the defendants from liability. Accordingly, the High Court affirmed the decree made by the Trial CourtIt may be mentioned that though on both the points, viz., whether the delivery of the goods at Dillibari was to the defendants and whether the defendants were, for such carrying from Dillibari, common carrier, one of the learned judges, Ram Labhaya J. appears to have, been hesitant in coming to his conclusion but ultimately on both these points he agreed with the Chief Justice and the agreed conclusions of both the learned judges were, as we have mentioned aboveThe High Court gave a certificate under Art. 133(1)(c) of the Constitution and on that certificate the present appeal has been brought.

Court's reasoning:
Apart from the fact that such a case that Macneill and Company used to carry on an independent boat service business to Desangmukh was not made in the plaint, we are satisfied that there is nothing that would justify us to depart from the well established practice of this Court not to interfere with eoncurrent findings of facts, of the Trial Court and the first court of appeal. We may however indicate that having been taken through the evidence we have no hesitation in stating our agreement with that finding,  viz., that the plaintiff delivered the tea chests in question to the defendants at Dillibari Ghat for carriage therefrom. We see no reason also to interfere with the High Courts findings that the plaintiff has not been able to establish its case of any negligence on the part of the defendants agentsThis is goods authority for the appellants contention that the more fact that they are engaged in the transport of goods from certain places on their Steamer Service to other places does not necessarily justify the conclusion that whatever carriage they may undertake elsewhere is also done as a common carrier. It is therefore necessary to examine the nature of the public profession made by the appellants with regard to the carriage of goods from Dillibari Ghat. It is true, as pointed out by the appellants counsel that there is no public notice, as there is in respect of places on the Steamer Service route, with regard to carriage from Dillibari Ghat. It is legitimate however to consider in this connection the usual conduct of the appellant companies in connection with carriage from Dillibari Ghat and other surrounding circumstances. It has to be noticed that tea gardens which supply the bulk of the companies cargo traffic for its despatch steamers find it convenient and economical to bring, their goods to the nearest point on some river and to enter into contracts of carriage of goods from these points to places on the Steamer Service routes. It appears clear from the evidence adduced in this case that for such carriage the tea gardens make requests to the appellants to arrange for carriage to the Steamer station and the companies invariably comply with such requestsIf this is actually the case it is obvious that the defendants deliberately do this as a part of their business so as to attract good business on the main steamer service route where they hope to make sufficient profits to make up for the loss in feeder serviceThe circumstance that there was no regular service but boats were supplied only on requisition is also wholly irrelevant for ascertaining whether there was a public profession to carry indiscriminately. Even if there was a regular service, there might not be a profession to carry indiscriminately ; whereas even if there was such a profession it would not necessarily happen that regular service should be maintained. If, as the evidence appears to establish, the companies were ready to supply boats whenever requested, without picking and choosing, that would be sufficient public profession to act as a common carrier. Nor is the fact that there was no fixed rate for carriage of goods from Dillibari to Desangmukh of any assistance to the appellants contention that they were not common carriers, for the law does not require that a common carrier must have one and the same rate for all goods.All that the law required was, that he shouldnot charge any more than was reasonableThat there was no fixed charge for carriage from Dillibari can not therefore be any reason to think that appellants were not common carriers in respect carriage from DillibariIf the appellants were really common carriers in respect of the carriage from Dillibari, is it conceivable, he asks, that there would not be a similar Forwarding Note covering the carriage from Dillibari to Desangmukh? That however is a totally wrong approach to the problem. A common carrier may restrict his liability by special contract. But the absence of a special contract cannot show that he is not a common carrier. The fact that the appellants did not, take care to make a special contract in respect of carriage from Dillibari is therefore wholly irrelevantOn a consideration of the entire evidence therefore we are of opinion that the appellants did profess by their. conduct, even if not by any public notice, that they would carry goods indiscriminately for all those who ask for such carriage from Dillibari to various places on their main steamer route. They were thus common carriers in respect of the carriage of the plaintiffs goods from DillibariIn terms the Forwarding Note was limited to the contract of carriage as from Desangmukh to Calcutta. By no method of construction of the document can it be- extended to the journey from Dillibari.All the contentions raised in the appeal therefore fail.