Section 70: Circumstances in which Corporation is liable

(1) The Corporation shall not be liable for the loss, damage, deviation, misdelivery, delay or detention of or to a consignment of goods or any part thereof carried or delivered for carriage by the railway unless-
(a) the goods in respect of which compensation is claimed have been accepted and booked by a railway servant; and
(b) in the case of goods consigned at owner's risk rates, a complete consignment or a complete package forming part of the consignment has been lost, damaged, deviated, misdelivered, delayed or detained as a result of the wilful misconduct of the servants or agents of the Corporation:
Provided that the Corporation shall not be exempt from any liability they might otherwise incur in the following cases-
(i) non-delivery of the whole of a consignment or of any separate package forming part of a consignment, properly packed and addressed. unless such non-delivery is due to accidents to trains or to fire;
(ii) pilferage from packages of merchandise protected otherwise than by paper or other packing readily removable by hand, provided the pilferage is pointed out to a servant of the Corporation on or before delivery;
(iii) misdelivery where merchandise properly addressed is not tendered to or placed at the disposal of the consignee within twenty-eight days, or in the case of perishable merchandise within a reasonable time which shall not be less than seventy-two hours after receipt of the consignment by the Corporation to whom the same was handed by the sender:
Provided however that the Corporation shall not be liable in the said cases of nondelivery, pilferage or misdelivery upon proof by them that the same has not been caused by the negligence or misconduct of the Corporation or its servants;
(c) in the case of goods consigned at railway's risk rates, the Corporation fails to prove that the loss, damage, deviation, misdelivery, delay or detention was not caused by the negligence or misconduct of the servants or agents of the Corporation. by special contract, which shall be in writing and signed by the consignor or his agent, limit the liability imposed on the Corporation by that subsection.
(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1) of this section, the Corporation may-
(a) agree to carry any goods on conditions more favourable to the consignor than those set out in that subsection: or
(b) by special contract, which shall be in writing and signed by the consignor or his agent, limit the liability imposed on the Corporation by that subsection.