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TMI Blog2009 (9) TMI 923X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rd installed in the sub-station receiving electricity from the State Electricity Board, which resulted in a flashover producing over currents. The flashover and over currents generated excessive heat. The paint on the panel board was charred by this excessive heat producing smoke and soot and the partition of the adjoining feeder developed a hole. The smoke /soot along with the ionized air traveled to the generator compartment where also there was short circuiting and the generator power also tripped. As a result, the entire electric supply to the plant stopped and due to the stoppage of electric supply, the supply of water/steam to the waste heat boiler by the flue gases at high temperature continued to be fed into the boiler, which resulted in damage to the boiler. 5. As a result the respondent -complainant approached the Insurance Company informing it about the accident and making its claim. Surveyors were appointed who submitted their report but the appellant-Insurance Company vide letter dated 4.9.2000 rejected the claim. Hence the petition before the National Commission. 6. The claimant-respondent made two claims (I) ₹ 1,35,17,709/- for material loss due to the da ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... case, the paint had burnt due to the said flashover ............... Such high energy levels, would undoubtedly, have resulted in a fire, causing melting of the panel board............ 13. The other surveyor P.C. Gandhi Associates has stated that Fire of such a short duration cannot be called a `sustained fire' as contemplated under the policy . 14. In our opinion the duration of the fire is not relevant. As long as there is a fire which caused the damage the claim is maintainable, even if the fire is for a fraction of a second. The term `Fire' in clause (1) of the Fire Policy `C' is not qualified by the word 'sustained'. It is well settled that the Court cannot add words to statute or to a document and must read it as it is. Hence repudiation of the policy on the ground that there was no `sustained fire' in our opinion is not justified. 15. We have perused the fire policy in question which is annexure P-1 to this appeal. The word used therein is 'fire' and not 'sustained fire'. Hence the stand of the Insurance Company in this connection is not acceptable. 16. Shri K.K. Venugopal invited our attention to exclusion (g) of the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e of the damage in question. 19. To understand this we have to first know the necessary facts. The insurance company pointed out the chain or sequence of events as under : Short-circuiting takes place in the INCOMER 2 of the main switchboard receiving electricity from the State Electricity Board possibly due to the entry of a vermin. ? Short-circuiting results in a flashover. ? Short-circuiting and flashover produced over-currents to the tune of 8000 amperes, which in turn produced enormous heat. The over currents and the heat produced resulted in the expansion and ionization of the surrounding air. ? The electricity supply from the State Electricity Board got tripped. ? The paint of the Panel Board charred by the enormous heat produced above and the MS partition of the adjoining feeder connected to the generator power developed a hole. It also resulted in formation of smoke/soot. ? The smoke/soot and the ionized air crossed over the MS partition and entered into the compartment receiving electricity from the generator. ? Consequently the generator power supply also got tripped. ? The tripping of purchased power and generator power resulted in total stop ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nal Commission that it was the flashover/fire which started the chain of events which resulted in the damage. 22. Apparently there is no direct decision of this Court on this point as to the meaning of proximate cause, but there are decisions of foreign Courts, and the predominant view appears to be that the proximate cause is not the cause which is nearest in time or place but the active and efficient cause that sets in motion a train or chain of events which brings about the ultimate result without the intervention of any other force working from an independent source. 23. Thus in Lynn Gas and Electric Company vs. Meriden Fire Insurance Company Ors. 158 Mass. 570; 33 N.E. 690; 1893 Mass. LEXIS 345 Supreme Court of Massachusetts was concerned with a case where a fire occurred in the wire tower of the plaintiff's building, through which the wires of electric lighting were carried from the building. The fire was speedily extinguished, without contact with other parts of the building and contents, and with slight damage to the tower or its contents. However, in a part of the building remote from the fire and untouched thereby, there occurred a disruption by centrifugal ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... equences of hostilities. The ship was torpedoed by a German submarine twenty five miles from Havre. With the aid of tugs she was brought to Havre on the same day. A gale sprang up, causing her to bump against the quay and finally she sank. The House of Lords upheld the claim for damages observing that the torpedoing was the proximate cause of the loss even though not the last in the chain of event after which she sank. 27. In Yorkshire Dale Steamship Company Ltd. vs. Minister of War Transport (The Coxwold) [1942] AC 691, [1942] 2 All ER 6 during the Second World War a ship in convoy was sailing carrying petrol for use of the armed forces. There was an alteration of the course of the ship to avoid enemy action, and an unexpected and unexplained tidal set carried away the ship and she was stranded at about 2.45 a.m. It was held that the loss was the direct consequence of the warlike operation on which the vessel was engaged. 28. In The Matter of an Arbitration between Etherington and the Lancashire and Yorkshire Accident Insurance Company [1909] 1 K.B. 591 by the terms of the policy (an accident) the insurance company undertook that if the insured should sustain any bodily inju ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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