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Issues: Jurisdiction of the Court for filing a suit involving a contract of carriage of goods.
Analysis: The plaintiff filed a suit for the recovery of losses incurred due to theft and pilferage of goods entrusted to the Railway station staff. The plaintiff contended that the suit could be filed in the Court of the First Munsif at Patna as the goods were to be delivered to the plaintiff at Patna Ghat. The defendant argued that the Court at Patna had no jurisdiction to entertain the suit and it should have been filed in an appropriate Court in the district of Shahabad. The lower courts held that the Court in Patna lacked jurisdiction, leading to the plaintiff's appeal to the High Court. The High Court analyzed the jurisdiction issue based on the location of the cause of action. The Court emphasized that the cause of action did not arise within the jurisdiction of the Court in which the suit was filed. The Court provided hypothetical scenarios to illustrate that the plaintiff could not choose the forum based on the intended delivery location alone. The Court clarified that the decision cited by the plaintiff's counsel regarding the Railways Act did not address the forum for the suit but rather liability under the Act. Consequently, the Court held that the cause of action in this case arose in the district of Shahabad, and no part of it fell within the jurisdiction of the Munsif 1st Court at Patna. In conclusion, the High Court found the plaintiff's application to be without merit and dismissed it with costs, assessing a hearing fee. The second judge agreed with this decision, affirming the dismissal of the application.
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