Chhattisgarh High Court: A Single Judge Bench comprising of Sanjay K. Agrawal in an order stated that “Post office is not liable to pay damages for delay in delivery of speed post-postal articles in light of Section 6 of the Indian Post Office Act, 1898.”
The facts of the case stated that, the petition dealt with the issue of whether Permanent Lok Adalat, Public Utility Services is justified in granting damages to the respondent whose speed post in regard for an application for a post at Bastar University did not reach on time and in light of the said circumstance, the respondent reached before the Permanent Lok Adalat to claim damages.
The contentions of the petitioner-Union of India rejecting the claim stated that in view of Section 6 of the Indian Post Office Act, 1898, for the delay in transmission of the postal article, the petitioner does not stand responsible as the delay did not occur due to any kind of fraud or willful intention of the petitioner.
Therefore, the High Court on careful consideration of the facts and circumstances of the case and on perusal of Section 6 of the Indian Post Office Act, 1898 the court made clear that Post office is run by the Government and it shall not be liable for any delay caused during the delivery of the postal articles, except the liability which may be expressed by the Central Government. Hence the Court by setting aside the order by the Permanent Lok Adalat stated that petitioner is not liable to pay any damages and respondent is only entitled to compensation equal to the composite speed post charges that have been already paid.[Post Master, Main Post Office, Jagdalpur v. Rajesh Nag, 2018 SCC OnLine Chh 552, order dated 19-07-2018]