Open Access Research Article
LIVE WIRES, LOOSE ENDS: RETHINKING ELECTROCUTION LIABILITY
Abstract
Abstract
In Karnataka Power Transmission
Corporation Ltd v Rekha, the Supreme Court held that electricity utilities
are strictly rather than absolutely liable for electrocution, that writ courts
should not award compensation where material facts are disputed, and that the
motor accident multiplier does not apply. This article accepts the
classification but identifies three gaps. The Court does not explain why the
exceptions to strict liability survive for an activity it calls inherently
dangerous; the article argues that liability without fault rests on the
utility’s control of the evidence and capacity to spread loss, while the
exceptions survive only where harm lay beyond reasonable care. Several disputes
that defeated the writ petitions concerned negligence, which the Court’s own
holding made immaterial, and the writ remedy lacks a stated constitutional
basis. And rejecting the multiplier leaves a standard without a method, while
State compensation schemes remain uneven. The article proposes a layered
remedial model built from materials Indian law already contains.
Published Paper
Author Details
Authors: VIVEK KULSHRESTHARegistration ID: 1013264 | Published Paper ID: IJLRA13264Year: Oct-2026 | Volume: 3 | Issue: 7Approved ISSN: 2582-6433 | Country: Delhi, IndiaPage No.: 221-238
Article Information
LIVE WIRES, LOOSE ENDS: RETHINKING ELECTROCUTION LIABILITY
Authors: VIVEK KULSHRESTHA
- Journal IJLRA
- ISSN 2582-6433
- Volume 3
- Issue 7
About Journal
International Journal for Legal Research and Analysis
- AbbreviationIJLRA
- ISSN2582-6433
- AccessOpen Access
- LicenseCC 4.0
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