S.D.O. GRID CORPN.OF ORISSA LTD. vs TIMUDU ORAM — C.A. No. 1726/1999

Case Summary: S.D.O. Grid Corporation of Orissa Ltd. v. Timudu Oram (C.A. No. 001726/1999) Decision: The Supreme Court set aside the High Court's compensation awards, holding that writ petitions under Article 226 were improper remedies for tort/negligence claims involving disputed factual questions. The Court ruled negligence must be established through civil suits, not writs, where appellants disputed liability. Key Reasoning: Where electricity distribution companies deny negligence and raise substantive defenses (such as unauthorized third-party interference, acts of God, or deceased's negligence), disputed questions of fact cannot be decided via writ jurisdiction on affidavits alone. However, amounts already paid need not be recovered given time elapsed. This case analysis is maintained by casestatus.in based on publicly available court records.