Section 148 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 defines bailment. It is
defined as:
delivery of goods by one person to another for some purpose, upon a contract
that they shall, when the purpose is accomplished, be returned or otherwise
disposed of according to the directions of the person delivering them. The
person delivering the goods is called the bailor. The person to whom they are
delivered is called the bailee.
This bailment, a special contract, comes with several rights and liabilities
upon both, the bailee and the bailor. Section 151 and Section 152 majorly talks
about the degree of care and liabilities that both bailee and bailor are
supposed to decipher. Now, the legal issue that arises is whether it is open to
any hotel to contract out his liability for negligence beyond what is already
provided under Section 152 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872.
Application:
As all the essential elements of the bailment are fulfilled, it is valid.
(7) In the case of Lilavati Kirtilal Mehta Medical Trust v. Unique Shanti
Developers, (2020) 2 SCC 265, the court defined the degree of reasonable care
and its extent. It was decided that when a guest knowingly gave the hotel
custody or possession of his vehicle, the hotel (bailee) had the burden of proof
to prove that it made reasonable efforts to take reasonable care of the vehicle
that was bailed and that theft did not happen as a result of its negligence or
misconduct (as in the case with valet parking).
Along with designating an
attendant or security person to park the car and keep the keys in his possession
until the owner enters the hotel grounds, the hotel is required to take further
procedures to guard against situations that could result in the automobile being
wrongly lost or destroyed. For instance, making sure that car keys are kept out
of the reach of strangers, that the valet parks the car in a secure location,
that parking spaces nearby the hotel are well-guarded, that parking spaces
inside the hotel (if any) are reasonably well-maintained, and CCTV cameras are
installed there to detect any suspicious activity, that the car is only given to
those who have a parking receipt, and so on.
Even if Hotel applies this prudent standard of care, it was not possible for the
bailee to prevent the mishap. Therefore, it can be inferred that Hotel has no
further liability of negligence in this case as even after taking all reasonable
care, the mishap could not have been avoided. Therefore, it is not open to Hotel
to contract out his liability for negligence beyond what is already provided
under Section 152 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872.
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