In the wake of the current coronavirus outbreak, most businesses
are looking out to re-align themselves with the economic disparity
that is likely to arise. In fact, even the Union of India through
Ministry of Finance (Department of Expenditure Procurement Policy
Division) has recently issued a clarification that coronavirus will
be considered as a case of natural calamity and as such covered
under the force majeure clause available to be invoked
wherever necessary and applicable.
What is 'force majeure' or 'vis
major'? It means 'superior force' or
'chance occurrence/unavoidable accident'. As the term and
its meaning suggests, it is an event that the contracting parties
could not have contemplated at the time of acceptance of contracts.
In India, primarily Section 56 of the Indian Contract Act deals
with this situation. Though some say that Section 32 is also a
facet of frustration, as any contingency becoming impossible to
perform results in dissolution of the
