This article was written by SASANK MITTA is a student of Indira priyadarsini law college 

INTRODUCTION

The limitation act sec2(m) states that tort means a civil wrong which is not exclusively a breach of contract or breach of trust The word “TORT” is taken from the Latin word “TORTUM” and tort is a civil wrong one has to pay unliquidated damages for the wrongful act whether the act has accidentally or intentionally. The battery is an example of intentional tort, Negligence is an example of unintentional tort. 

Fraser said that “it is an infringement of a right in rem of a private individual giving a right of compensation at the suit of the injured party”

Salman said that “it is a civil wrong for which the remedy is a common law of action for unliquidated damages and which is not exclusively the breach of a contract or the breach of your trust or other mainly equitable obligation”

Winfield said that “tortious liability arises from the breach of a duty primarily fixed by the law: this duty is towards persons generally and its breeches redressable by an action for unliquidated damages”

CONSTITUTIONAL TORTS 

Article 300 of the Indian constitution states that the state can sue and state can be sued which means any citizen of India can file a case against the government and in the same way the government can also file a case against any citizen of India, the state has two types of functions one is sovereign functions and another one is non-sovereign functions, In the sovereign function the state is not liable for the any wrongful did by the employees of the government but when we come to this non-sovereign functions the government is liable for the functions of the wrongful act did by the employees and the functions like defence activities, preserving the armed forces to maintaining the peace and war are some of the sovereign functions and road transportation activities, construction activities are some of the examples of non-sovereign functions.

Peninsular and oriental steam navigation vs Secretary of State for India

What happened, in this case is some workers were crossing the road with iron rods in their hands while crossing the road they heard the noise of horses coming in, those workers were scared and dropped the rods on the road then the horse came and got into an accident because of the iron rods and died on the spot now the person filed a case against the secretary of state for India and the judgment in this case that secretary of the state is liable for the negligence.

Kasturi Lal vs State of U.P

In this case, Kasturi Lal was a gold Smith who resides in Uttar Pradesh and was caught by the Uttar Pradesh police with the gold as he was saying that that gold was belonging to him even though the police didn’t hear him and they arrested the Kasturi Lal after some investigation they come to know that gold belongs to Kasturi Lal whenever they want to give that gold back  the gold was missing in the locker the constable who works with the police was taken the gold and ran away, in this case, we get to know the police duty is a sovereign function so the state is not liable for that, Kasturi Lal didn’t get any compensation from the state

Rudul sah vs State of bihar 

Rudul sah is a person who was arrested by the Bihar police for murdering his wife, after his period of punishment he was kept in Jail for extra 14 years he filed a public interest litigation for that then the supreme court ordered the government to pay the compensation and medical aid to rudul sah, here the supreme court of India has ordered the government, a person can file a case against the government

CONCLUSION

The law of torts deals with the tort law, a tort is a civil wrong one person has to pay the damages to the other person for the wrongful act whether it was done intentionally or accidentally, according to the constitution of India the government is liable for the non-sovereign functions, the government is not liable for the sovereign functions.

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