B.V. Nagarathna JUDGMENT
B.V. Nagarathna, J.
1. Leave granted.
2. This Civil Appeal has been filed assailing the impugned judgment and order dated 30.04.2015 passed by the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (hereinafter referred to as 'National Commission' for the sake of convenience) at New Delhi by which the National Commission has allowed Appeal No. 6 of 2010 filed by Respondent Nos. 1 to 3 and set-aside the judgment and order dated 09.02.2009 passed by the State Commission, New Delhi.
3. The National Commission vide impugned order has reduced the amount of compensation to Rs. 10,000/- (Rupees Ten Thousand) as against the amount granted by the State Commission to be paid to the Appellant herein i.e., a sum of Rs. 13,79,901/- (Rupees Thirteen Lakhs Seventy-Nine Thousand Nine Hundred and One), together with compensation of Rs. 50,000/- (Rupees Fifty Thousand) and cost of litigation amounting to Rs. 10,000/- (Rupees Ten Thousand).
4. The issue involved in the present appeal is in a very narrow compass and relates only to the quantum of compensation that the Appellant is entitled to receive from the Respondents.
5. The Appellant herein - original complainant, a private limited company, filed a consumer complaint before the State Commission against the present Respondents-opposite parties. Respondent No. 1-UPS Freight Service (India) Pvt. Ltd. (formerly known as M/s. Fritz Freight Forwarding India Pvt. Ltd.) and Respondent No. 2 - M/s. Fritz International are the subsidiaries and agents of Respondent No. 3 - M/s. Fritz Companies Inc. to administer, look after and carry out the business of Respondent No. 3, in India. Respondent No. 4 - Bank of Boston is the consignee's bank and Respondent No. 5 - M/s. County Seat Stores, New York is the consignee company.
6. IA No. 1 of 2015 seeking deletion of Respondent No. 5 was allowed and IA No. 40994 of 2017 for deletion of name of Respondent Nos. 2 -M/s. Fritz International and Respondent No. 3 - M/s. Fritz Companies Inc. was allowed by this Court and were deleted from the array of parties vide order dated 17.07.2017. Respondent No. 5 - M/s. County Seat Stores was deleted from the array of parties vide order of this Court dated 08.07.2015.
7. Succinctly stated, the facts of the case are that the Appellant herein during the course of its business entered into a contract with Respondent No. 5 for export of two hundred and thirty-four (234) packages of MN's 100% CTN Twill messenger bags for a total invoice value of US$ 31,920 (equivalent to Rs. 13,79,901/- approximately). The mode of payment was agreed to be through Letter of Credit ("LC", for short) against the Forwarder Cargo Receipt ("FCR", for short). For the said purpose, Respondent No. 5 consignee appointed Respondent No. 4 as the purchaser's bank through which the Letter of Credit was opened in favour of the Appellant. Respondent Nos. 1-3 were appointed as forwarding agents to collect the goods from the Appellant and forward the same.
8. As per the terms of the agreement and the Letter of Credit, the shipment was Free on Board ("FOB", for short), from New Delhi to Baltimore M.D. Respondent No. 5 consignee appointed Respondent Nos. 1-3 as their forwarding agents/consolidators to execute the entire transaction for Respondent No. 5 with the Appellant herein. A Purchase ........