The Supreme Court has ordered the Centre to find if annual increases in compensation are possible in cases of fatalities and serious injuries resulting from hit-and-run accidents.
Asked to give decision within 2 weeks
On April 22, the Supreme Court posted the matter for further consideration and asked the government to make a suitable decision within eight weeks. The highest court pointed out that the Motor Vehicles (MV) Act, 1988 stipulates that compensation for fatalities due to hit-and-run accidents shall be given at least Rs 2 lakh, or a higher amount that the central government may specify, and that compensation for serious injuries to be given at least Rs 50,000.
The top court further ordered the police to notify the relatives of those killed in these kinds of accidents about the MV Act’s compensation program. In its ruling, a bench consisting of Justices A S Oka and Pankaj Mithal observed that, according to Ministry of Road Transport and Highways year-by-year reports, there were 55,942 hit-and-run incidents reported in 2016 and 67,387 in 2022.
What did SC say?
“It is evident from records published by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways of the Government of India from 2016-2022 that there were 55,942 hit and run motor accidents in 2016, which increased to 65,186 in 2017, 69,621 in 2018, and 69,621 in 2019. During COVID-19 period, the number of accidents decreased,” it said. The bench also noted an answer given by the road transport and highways minister in the Lok Sabha in March last year.
“The answer records that in the last five years, there were 660 deaths in hit-and-run cases, and there were 113 injury cases for which compensation of Rs 184.60 lakh was disbursed,” the bench said in its January 12 order.
“If we compare the number of hit-and-run road accidents reported and the number of cases registered for seeking compensation, what stares at the face is that negligible number of victims have taken advantage of the said scheme,” it said.
The bench noted that one of the reasons may be that victims were not made aware of the existence of the compensation scheme.
“The value of money diminishes with time. We direct the central government to consider whether the compensation amounts can be gradually enhanced annually. The central government shall take an appropriate decision on this issue within eight weeks from today,” the apex court said.
The bench passed its order after hearing submissions on the issue of effective implementation of the provisions of the MV Act relating to grant of compensation in case of hit-and-run accident cases.
With Agency Inputs
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