Court caseAIR 1966 SC 1750

A clock tower standing opposite the Town Hall in the main bazaar of Chandni Chowk, Delhi, owned by and under the control of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, suddenly collapsed, killing a number of persons who were in the street below. The legal representatives of three of the deceased sued the Corporation for damages. Evidence showed that the clock tower was about eighty years old, whereas the normal life of such a structure built with the kind of mortar used was about forty to forty-five years, and that the Corporation had not had it properly examined for soundness. The trial court decreed the suits; the High Court upheld the decree, and the Corporation appealed.

The Supreme Court dismissed the appeals. The mere fact that the clock tower collapsed was evidence of negligence: the tower was exclusively under the Corporation's control, and a properly maintained structure does not ordinarily fall without some defect that reasonable inspection would reveal. The principle of res ipsa loquitur applied, and the burden lay on the Corporation to explain the collapse or to show that it had exercised reasonable care. It could not do so: it had not inspected the structure in a manner that would reveal its condition, particularly given that the tower had long outlived its normal life. The Corporation, as owner of a building adjoining the highway, was under a duty to keep it in a safe condition and was liable for the deaths.