Generally, a person is liable for the acts or wrongs committed by him or her. However, there are various cases where another person can be held liable for the acts performed by a person, i.e. the liability of the wrong committed may not only arise on the person who has performed the act but also the person on whose behest such an act is performed. Such cases fall under the category of ‘Vicarious Liability’. 

Vicarious liability is based on the legal maxim “qui facit per alium, facit per se”, which means “He who does an act through another is deemed in law to do it himself”. This implies that where an act is committed by any person on behalf of another, such an act shall be  deemed or considered to be performed by the person himself on whose orders the other individual has performed. 

As a result, vicarious liability applies in an employer employee relationship as well. The employer can be held liable for the acts which are done by the employee during the course of his employment. 

There are three basic requirements which need to be fulfilled in case of applying vicarious liability-

1. There should be a master-servant relationship between the individual who has committed the tort and the person who has authorised a certain act to be performed.
2. The wrong committed by the servant/employee should be connected to the authorised act in some way.
3. The act should have been done by the servant/employee during the course of his employment. 

There are various cases wherein acts maybe performed by individuals on behalf or on the orders of the central or any state government. In cases such as these, it becomes important to  determine whether these governments can be held liable if there is any wrong committed on part of the person performing them or are they secure from being bound by such vicarious liability. 

The answer lies in article 300(1) of the Indian Constitution, which states-

“The Governor of India may sue or be sued by the name of the Union and the Government of a State may sue or be sued by the name of the State and may, subject to any provisions which may be made by Act of Parliament or of the Legislature of such State enacted by virtue of powers conferred by this Constitution, sue or be sued in relation to their respective affairs in the like cases as the Dominion of India and the corresponding Provinces or the corresponding Indian States might have sued or been sued if this Constitution had not been enacted.”

However, there are various judgments which provide the appropriate answer to the question of whether the State or any other governmental bodies are immune from being held for vicarious liability, and these judgments have differed in their contention in the pre and post constitutional period.