Fire not an 'act of God' if no external natural force involved: SC
The Hindu
A three-judge bench made the observation while setting aside an Allahabad High Court order which had termed the fire in the warehouse of a company as an ‘act of God’.
A fire accident cannot be termed as an 'act of God' if it did not happen due to the operation of any external natural forces like storm, floods, lightning or earthquake, the Supreme Court has said.
A three-judge bench headed by Justice A.M. Khanwilkar made the observation while setting aside an Allahabad High Court order which had termed the fire in the warehouse of a company as an ‘act of God’ and exempted excise liability of the company engaged in the manufacture of liquor.
“The present one had not been a case where anything related with the forces of nature like storm, floods, lightning or earthquake had been in operation or caused the fire.”