The public utility contract exception in Indian law: awarding damages without proof of actual loss

This post analyses a new trend emerging from case laws in the Supreme Court of India allowing parties to claim damages without proof of actual loss in public utility Contracts on the basis that any delay in implementing them affects the public at large, a loss that can neither be computed nor proven. Jeet H. Shroff and Ifrah Shaikh argue that such decisions add an element of public interest to the law of damages in India, which falls firmly within the realm of private law. In doing so, the decisions re-draw the boundaries between public and private law, and are likely to affect larger issues of public policy in India.