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Judgment
V.K. Jain, J
The complainant/petitioner was sent a parcel containing his goods, comprising dupattas and tops etc. by post from Darbhanga. The said parcel, according to the complainant/petitioner contained embroidered Dupattas, etc. This is also his case that when the parcel was opened several Dupattas and tops were found missing. He approached the concerned post office and also lodged an FIR with the police. No redress having been provided to him, he approached the concerned District Forum by way of a consumer complaint. The complaint was resisted by the respondent which admitted the booking of the parcel as well as its delivery to the complainant. It was alleged that there was no tempering with the parcel and it had been got insured only to the extent of Rs.500/-.
The District Forum vide its order dated 9.4.2015 directed the respondent to pay a sum of Rs.500/- to the petitioner along with cost of litigation quantified at Rs.1000/-. The said amount has already been paid to him.
Since the petitioner was no satisfied with the order passed by the District Forum, he approached the concerned State Commission by way of an appeal. Vide impugned order dated 3.1.2017, the State Commission dismissed the appeal filed by him as barred by limitation there being a delay of 141 days in filing the appeal. The petitioner is, therefore, before this Commission. Since there is a delay of 287 days in filing the revision petition, IA/5694/2018 has also been filed by the petitioner seeking condonation of delay of the said delay.
Section 6 of the Post office Act and Clause 182 of the Post Office Guide at which reliance is placed by the learned counsel for the respondent reads as under:-
Exemption from liability for loss, misdelivery, delay or damage.- The [Government] shall not incur any liability by reason of the loss, misdelivery or delay of, or damage to, any postal article in course of transmission by post, except in so far as such liability may in express terms be undertaken by the Central Government as hereinafter provided; and no officer of the Post Office shall incur any liability by reason of any such loss, misdelivery, delay or damage, unless he has caused the same fraudulently or by his willful act or default.
Responsibility of the Post Office. - There will be payable to the sender of an insured postal article compensation not exceeding the amount for which the article has been insured, for the loss of the postal article, or any of its contents, or for any damage caused to it in course of transmission by post; provided that the compensation in no case exceeds the value of the article or any of its contents lost or the amount of the damage causes, and provided that, in the case of loss, the sender furnishes full particulars of the contents of the postal article and their values; provided also that no compensation will be payable -
(a) Where there has been misdelivery arising out of incorrectness or incompleteness of the address written by the sender;
(b) where there has been fraud on the part of the sender or addressee;
(c) where the insured article has been delivered to the addressee, and he has signed and returned the receipt therefore;
(d) where the sender has not given intimation of the loss within three months from the date of posting;
(e) where the loss or damage was due to improper or insecure packing;
(f) where there is no visible damage to the cover or seals it being understood that the sender must so pack the letter or parcel that its contents cannot be touched without visible damage as aforesaid being caused;
(g) where the insured article contains Government currency notes, bank notes, gold coin or bullion or any combination of these, and has not been insured for the actual value of the contents;"
It would thus be seen that if there is loss of a parcel sent by post or the said parcel is misdelivered, delayed or damaged, the liability of the post office would be limited to the extent undertaken by the Central Govt. in terms of Section 6 of the Act. The said limit on the liability of the post office and its employees, however, shall not apply in a case where the loss or damage is caused due to some fraudulent or willful act or default of a postal employee. Even the quantum of compensation fixed under Clause 182 of the Post Office Guide does not apply to a case where the loss or damage is caused to a consumer on account of a fraudulent or willful act of a postal employee.
If the allegations of the complainant are correct, it would mean that a parcel containing embroided clothes was opened by an employee of the post office during the course of transit and some of the articles were removed from the parcel before delivering it to the wife of the complainant. If true, this would be a fraudulent act and therefore Section 6 of the Post Office Act and Clause 182 of the Post Office Guide would not apply.
It transpired during the course of arguments that the petitioner/complainant had not examined the person who sent the parcel to the complainant from Darbhanga nor did he examine his wife who received the said parcel. Even the affidavits of the person who sent the parcel and the wife of the complainant who received the same were not filed. It would be necessary to examine both them to find out as to whether there was actually any default during the course of transit and if so, to what extent the complainant suffered a loss on account of the alleged theft.
For the reasons stated hereinabove, the delay in filing the revision petition is condoned and the impugned orders are set aside. The matter is remitted back to the District Forum to decide the consumer complaint afresh after giving an opportunity to the petitioner to either file the affidavit of the person who sent the parcel as well as the affidavit of his wife or to produce them in the witness box. The respondent shall be at liberty to cross-examine them. The District Forum shall decide the complaint afresh within three months of the parties appearing before it, after considering their deposition. The parties are directed to appear before the District Forum on 10.7.2019.