The term "at owner's risk" appears in every goods receipt or consignment note issued by the transporters to whom the goods are entrusted by traders, manufacturers or businessmen for delivery to their dealers or customers. Does this term completely exonerate the transport company from its liability if the goods so consigned are not delivered, late delivered or delivered in a damaged condition? Transporters say so and invariably advance this plea if any action is taken against them. Courts too have struggled hard to reconcile the situation and even the Supreme Court had to go into this baffling question on several occasions.
Rungta Brothers had booked a consignment of Kota Stones with Vijay Goods Transport Company at Kota to be delivered at Bharuch in Gujarat. The goods dispatched were not delivered at the destination. In their complaint before the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, it was pleaded that the complainant had no right to claim damages as the goods receipt had clearly stipulated the goods were transported on the responsibility of the complainant. The district forum dismissed the complaint.
