Supreme Court To Examine Methods To Expedite Compensation In Motor Accident Cases

The Supreme Court is set to examine methods to expedite the grant of compensation in motor accident cases.The Central Government has agreed to coordinate with all stakeholders included in the Bajaj Allianz's case regarding disbursement of compensation and expeditious adjudication of motor accident claims by online mechanism and place the agreed directions before the Court along with every party's perception. The direction has come after Supreme Court decided to consider the issue of payment of victim compensation online pan India while adjudicating cases under Motor Accidents Claims Act and contemplate on the other issues that would help speed up the adjudication processA three-judge Bench of Justices S.K. Kaul, Dinesh Maheshwari and Hrishikesh Roy has been hearing the plea filed Insurance Company Bajaj Allianz seeking slew of directions in the matter and had in its previous hearing directed the petitioner, to come up with draft directions and guidelines it seeks for facilitating compensation disbursement process and expedition of cases before Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal in terms of previous orders of the High Court.During the hearing, the Court was assured by Additional Solicitor General Jayant Sud, that coordinated effort will be made and a virtual conference with all the stakeholders represented the Court will be held and the agreed directions will be given to the Court along with the different perceptions of all the stakeholders involved. The Apex Court has directed certain issues to be discussed in the virtual meeting of the stakeholders:Recommendations of Supreme Court's Artificial Intelligence Committee: The Court has also directed that the meeting should consider consonance of the recommendations that would be made by the Supreme Court's Committee dealing with use of Artificial intelligence. The Bench was informed by the Counsel that the Committee of the Supreme Court dealing with the use of Artificial Intelligence is also examining some aspects and the directions to be issued should be in consonance with the same. The Supreme Court Artificial Committee was formed by CJI Bobde in November 2019 to develop various modules and assist Courts in application of Artificial Intelligence tools in various situations. The Committee headed by Justice Nageswara Rao is seized with a host of issues concerning the Motor Accident Claim Jurisdiction, to deliver a sure and sound regime expeditious disposal of the claims.Recommendations of Ministry of Road and Transport: The Court received assurance from, Deputy Advocate General Sourav Roy appearing on behalf of the State of Chhattisgarh who stated that assistance will be taken from the Ministry of Road and Transport (MORT) in framing the directions. He suggested the Court that since the Ministry has some aggregated platforms it may also be of assistance in framing of the directions, and therefore should be consulted.Orders of the Delhi and Madras High Court: The Court has asked suggestions made by Bajaj Allianz to be taken up and examined during the discussion. The petitioner Bajaj Allianz suggested that the Delhi High Court and the Madras High Court have placed very effective machinery to take care of practically all the problems and largely those directions can be replicated.The Supreme Court had on Feb 13th directed the Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company, the petitioner in the matter, to come up with draft directions and guidelines for facilitating compensation disbursement process and expedition of cases before Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal (MACT). The Court had observed that in its previous hearing on 18th January 2021, the bench had directed the petitioner to submit a note indicating the directions within 10 days, but the petitioner failed to do so.During the course of proceedings today, Meenakshi Arora had informed the bench that she had submitted the required note in the Court wherein she had incorporated various directions given by the Delhi High Court and other High Courts across India dealing with compensation disbursement process and expedition of cases pending before MACT.However, Justice Kaul clarified that the bench had asked the petitioner to prepare "draft directions" for the Court to look into the aspect of its implementation. Ms. Arora, accepting her fault for not submitting the requisite draft directions, sought permission from the bench to grant some time to the petitioner to come up with the guidelines."You cannot put everything on court and say you do it. You should have framed the guidelines. You've not done the exercise." Justice Kaul had remarked at the outset."We asked you vide Order dated 18th January for directions related to disbursement of compensation and expedition of MACT cases, which would have then modulated for a uniform application. We are trying to help you out. We will give you one more chance. Otherwise we will close this case." The bench had observed.The bench had therefore granted one last chance to the petitioner ...

Supreme Court To Examine Methods To Expedite Compensation In Motor Accident Cases

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