Liability of Government for wrongs Tortious liability Sovereign and non-sovereign functions Contractual Liability

A municipal truck of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation knocks down a pedestrian at Dadar. The family can sue the driver and the Corporation, but what if the vehicle belonged to the State Government, or the Army? Can a citizen sue the State at all for a wrong done by its servants? The old English rule said the King can do no wrong. Indian law had to decide how much of that rule to keep.

In two minutes

Art. 300 lets the Union and the States sue and be sued in like cases as their predecessors; the courts split State functions into sovereign (no liability) and non-sovereign (liability), a distinction now weakened by constitutional compensation for violation of fundamental rights, while contracts with the Government must follow Art. 299.

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