Supreme Court wants a law on damages for accidents, death

While some countries like the UK, USA and Australia have codified law on torts, recognising civil wrongs as grounds for a lawsuit, India does not have one. Indian courts depend on provisions in a variety of statutes to entertain claims arising in cases of death such as Delhi’s 1997 Uphaar fire tragedy, the1984 Bhopal gas leak, Kolkata’s AMRI hospital fire in 2011 and several such mishaps, including deaths due to collapse of buildings and drowning.

In its judgment, a bench of Justices V Gopala Gowda and Adarsh Kumar Goel said a duty was cast on the statutory authorities and local bodies regarding a degree of care, and hence a person must be compensated by them against losses.

It said that high courts and the Supreme Court were duty-bound to uphold claims arising from loss of life or liberty on account of violation of statutory duties of public authorities and to oblige them to award damages.

“Where activity of a public body is hazardous, highest degree of care is expected and breach of such duty is actionable. This obligation is also referable to Article 21 (right to life and liberty) of the Constitution. We reiterate the need for a comprehensive legislation dealing with tortious liability of the State…in such cases for certainty on the subject,” the judgment read.

“We request the Law Commission to look into the matter and take such steps as may be found necessary,” it said.

The bench said due to lack of legislation, courts dealing with cases of tort claims against the State and its officials were not following a uniform pattern, and it resulted in certain undesirable orders and arbitrary compensation.

The order came as the court rejected appeal against an order of the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC), which held Vadodara Municipal Corporation, Oriental Insurance Company and the proprietor of Ripple Aqua Sports guilty of malfeasance.

They had moved SC against an order to pay compensation for the death of 22 people, who drowned in Vadodara’s Sursagar Lake in 1992 during a boat ride. The NCDRC held the corporation and Aqua Sports to be jointly and severely liable and determined the quantum of compensation ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs 11lakh in respect of claims for the 22 deaths.

The corporation sought to wriggle out of the responsibility, saying it was not a service provider and had no contract with the victims. The bench, however, threw out this argument, noting “mere appointment of a contractor or employee did not absolve the corporation of its liability to supervise the boating activities”.

It held that the corporation was not only discharging its statutory duties but was also acting as service provider to the passengers through its agent. “The corporation had a duty of care, when the activity of plying boats is inherently dangerous and there is clear foreseeability of such occurrence unless precautions are taken like providing life saving jackets,” it said.