Dikhyaa Mohanty 
The Supreme Court stated that a fire accident cannot be termed as an ‘act of God’ if it did not happen due to the operation of any external natural forces like storms, floods, lightning or earthquake.
According to the reports, a three-judge bench headed by Justice A M Khanwilkar made the observation while setting aside an Allahabad High Court order which had termed the fire in the warehouse of a company as an act of God’ and exempted excise liability of the company engaged in the manufacture of liquor. The present one had not been a case where anything related to the forces of nature like storms, floods, lightning or earthquake had been in operation or caused the fire.
The top court also stated that the fire in question had not taken place due to any mischief by any person. Noticeably, the fire that started around 12:55 pm on April 10, 2003, could be brought under control by the firefighters only by 5 am the next day. The bench stated that when all the relevant factors are cumulatively taken into account, we find it difficult to accept that the fire and the resultant loss had been beyond the control of human agency so as to be termed as an inevitable accident.
The top court further added that the fire had not been generated on its own and with appropriately laid fireproof electrical installations as also firefighting measures, the incident was an avoidable one or at least the loss could have been minimised.
