OTIS Elevator Co. (India) Ltd. Vs Rashmi Handa & Ors. (Supreme Court of India)
The Supreme Court dismissed OTIS Elevator Co. (India) Ltd.’s appeal against the NCDRC order holding OTIS, the Military Engineering Service (MES) and Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) jointly and severally liable for compensation arising from the death of a passenger during the rescue of a stalled elevator, while allowing the connected appeal and directing the NCDRC to proceed with execution of the compensation decree. The Court held that passenger elevators are a mode of vertical transportation and should be treated as common carriers, imposing a heightened duty of care on manufacturers, maintenance contractors and premises owners. It distinguished the immediate cause of the accident from the legal cause of liability, observing that although the lift moved after manual release of the brake during the rescue, OTIS’s repeated failure to rectify recurring defects, despite complaints and knowledge of voltage fluctuations, constituted deficiency in service. The Court also noted OTIS’s failure to produce maintenance records required under the maintenance contract and upheld the NCDRC’s apportionment of liability at 70% to OTIS, 25% to MES and 5% to RAW.
Issue: whether the manufacturer and maintenance contractor of a passenger lift can escape liability by attributing a fatal accident to human error during rescue operations, and whether a passenger elevator should be treated as a common carrier imposing a heightened duty of care?
