(1) If the consignee fails to take delivery of any consignment of goods within a period of thirty days from the date of notice given by the common carrier, such consignment may be deemed as unclaimed:
Provided that in case of perishable consignment, the period of thirty days shall not apply and the consignment shall be deemed unclaimed after a period of twentyfour hours of service of notice or any lesser period as may be mutually agreed to by and between the common carrier and the consignor.
(2) In the case of an unclaimed consignment under sub-section (1), the commcn carrier may,-
(a) if such consignment is perishable in nature, have the right to sell the consignment; or
(b) if such consignment is not perishable in nature, cause a notice to be served upon the consignee or upon the consignor if the consignee is not available, requiring him to remove the goods within a period of fifteen days from the date of receipt of the notice and in case of failure to comply with the notice, the common carrier shall have the right to sell such consignment without any further notice to the consignee or the consignor, as the case may be.
(3) The common carrier shall, out of the sale proceeds received under subsection (2), retain a sum equal to the freight, storage and other charges due including expenses incurred for the sale, and the surplus, if any, from such sale proceeds shall be returned to the consignee or the consignor, as the case may be.
(4) Unless otherwise agreed upon between the common carrier and consignor, the common carrier shall be entitled to detain or dispose off the consignment in part or full to recover his dues in the event of the consignee failing to make payment of the freight and other charges payable to the common carrier at the time of taking delivery.
16. No suit or other legal proceeding shall be instituted against a common carrier for any loss of, or damage to, the consignment, unless notice in writing of the loss or damage to the consignment has been served on the common carrier before the institution of the suit or other legal proceeding and within one hundred and eighty days from the date of booking of the consignment by the consignor.
7 Provision for carriage of goods of dangerous or hazardous nature to human life.
Power of Central Government to prohibit carriage of certain class of goods.
Right of common carrier in case of consignee's default.
Notice for institution of a suit.
Gener-il responsibility of common carrier.
8 THE GAZETTE OF INDIA EXTRAORDINARY [PART II-
17. Save as otherwise provided in this Act, a common carrier shall be responsible for the loss, destruction, damage or deterioration in transit or non-delivery of any consignment entrusted to him for carriage, arising from any cause except the following, namely:-
(a) act of God;
(b) act of war or public enemy;
(c) riots and civil commotion;
(d) arrest, restraint or seizure under legal process;
(e) order or restriction or prohibition imposed by the Central Government or a State Government or by an officer or authority subordinate to the Central Government or a State Government authorised by it in this behalf:
Provided that the common carrier shall not be relieved of its responsibility for the loss, destruction, damage, deterioration or non-delivery of the consignment if the common carrier could have avoided such loss, destruction, damage or deterioration or non-delivery had the common carrjer exercised due deligence and care in the carriage of the consignment.
Punishment for 18. (1) Whoever contravenes the provisions of section 3, section 13 or a contravention notification issued under section 14 shall be punishable for the first offence with fine in relation to which may extend to five thousand rupees, and for the second or subsequent offence no n-r e s is tr ation, ca~ry;ng with fine which may extend to ten thousand rupees.
goods of dangerous or hazardous nature, or prohibited goods.
Composition of offences.
Power to make rules.
(2) If the person committing an offence under this Act is a company, every person who, at the time the offence was committed, was in charge of, and was responsible to, the company for the conduct of the business of the company, as well as the company, shall be deemed to be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly:
Provided that nothing contained in this sub-section shall render any such person liable to any punishment, if he proves that the offence was committed without his knowledge or that he had exercised all due diligence to prevent the commission of such offence.
(3) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), where any offence under this Act has been committed by a company and it is proved that the offence has been committed with the consent or connivance of, or is attributable to any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other officer of the company, such director, manager, secretary or other officer shall be proceeded against and punished accordingly.
Explanation.-For the purpose of this section,-
(a) "company" means any body corporate and includes a firm or other association of individuals; and
(b) "director", in relation to a firm, means a partner in the firm.