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Kumud Lall v. Suresh Chandra Roy (Dead) Through LRs

Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 443Decided 4 May 2026
C.A. No.-006893-006894 - 2026
Justice J.K. Maheshwari · Justice Atul S. Chandurkar

Background

A patient's husband filed a consumer complaint in 1997 alleging that Dr. P.B. Lall had negligently treated and operated on his wife's eyes, causing her to lose vision. The complaint succeeded before the District Forum but was overturned on appeal by the State Commission; while the complainant's revision was pending before the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC), the doctor passed away. The NCDRC allowed the complainant's application to bring the doctor's legal heirs (his wife and son) on record to continue the case and held they would be liable to the extent of the estate they inherited, a decision the heirs challenged before the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court examined whether a claim for compensation for professional negligence survives the death of the person accused of the negligence, applying Section 306 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 and Order XXII of the Civil Procedure Code. It held that unlike a purely personal claim (such as one for defamation, which dies with the person), a claim for compensation arising from a wrong to person or property, including alleged medical negligence, does survive against the estate of the deceased wrongdoer, so the legal heirs could correctly be brought on record. However, the Court found that the NCDRC's order had gone further than permissible by treating the entire compensation claim as automatically recoverable from the estate, without first requiring the complainant to actually prove negligence and establish what portion of the claim was properly chargeable to the estate. The matter was therefore remitted to the NCDRC to adjudicate the negligence question and the extent of estate liability afresh, within six months.

Lesson Learnt

When a person being sued dies during a case, claims that seek compensation for a wrong done to a person (such as medical negligence) generally survive and can be pursued against their estate through their legal heirs, but the claimant must still prove the underlying negligence, and liability is limited to what the deceased's estate can bear, not an automatic full payout.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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