Supreme Court Pulls Up States and High Courts For Not Filing Compliance Report On Directions Issued On Motor Accident Compensation Claims

The Supreme Court on Monday urged the States and High Courts that had not filed their compliance reports in connection with a slew of directions issued by the Apex Court in December 2022 with regard to motor accident compensation claims to do so by August 14. The Court warned that if the reports are not submitted on time, the Court would have to insist on the presence of Registrar Generals of the concerned High Courts and the Chief Secretaries of the concerned States in Court. The guidelines were issued in 2022 to carry out the purpose of the Motor Vehicle Amendment Act and the Rules.A division bench of Justice J K Maheshwari and Justice K V Viswanathan said in its order: “In case compliance report is not filed by the remaining High Courts or the State authorities, before the next date, this Court shall be constrained to pass an order seeking presence of the Registrar Generals of the concerned High Court and the Chief Secretaries of the concerned State /Union Territories.” The Court noted that reports/compliance affidavits have not been received from High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, Karnataka, Manipur, Patna, Rajasthan, Telangana and Allahabad.The Court in December 2022, had issued several guidelines for the registration of First Accident Report by the police immediately after a motor vehicle accident, so that the claim process under the Motor Vehicles Act can be initiated at the earliest. To ensure proper compliance with the Motor Vehicles Amendment Act 2019 and the related Rules, the Court had directed the Chief Secretary/Director General of Police in every State to develop a specialized unit in every police station and post trained police personnel to ensure the compliance of the provisions of the M.V. Amendment Act and the Rules within 3 months.The Court had also directed that after registering the FIR, the Investigating Officer, as per Motor Vehicles Amendment Rules, 2022 should submit the First Accident Report within 48 hours to the Claims Tribunal. The Interim Accident Report and Detailed Accident Report also should be filed before the Claims Tribunal within the prescribed time limit. To ensure compliance to this, the Registrar General of the High Courts were directed to distribute police stations attaching them with the appropriate Claim Tribunals. The Court had also urged the Registrar General of the High Courts, States Legal Services Authority, and State Judicial Academies to sensitize all stakeholders as early as possible concerning the provisions of Chapters XI and XII of the MV Amendment Act and the MV 65 Amendment Rules, 2022 and to ensure the mandate of law. The State Authorities were also directed to take appropriate steps to develop a joint web portal/platform to coordinate and facilitate the stakeholders to carry out the provisions of the MV Amendment Act and the Rules in coordination with any technical agency. In this regard, the respective Chief Secretaries of States and Registrar Generals of respective High Courts were directed to file compliance reports. The following are the detailed guidelines issued by the Court on 15th December 2022 : i) On receiving the intimation regarding road accident by use of a motor vehicle at public place, the SHO concerned shall take steps as per Section 159 of the M.V. Amendment Act. ii) After registering the FIR, Investigating Officer shall take recourse as specified in the M.V. Amendment Rules, 2022 and submit the FAR within 48 hours to the Claims Tribunal. The IAR and DAR shall be filed before the Claims Tribunal within the time limit subject to compliance of the provisions of the Rules. iii) The registering officer is duty bound to verify the registration of the vehicle, driving licence, fitness of vehicle, permit and other ancillary issues and submit the report in coordination to the police officer before the Claims Tribunal. iv) The flow chart and all other documents, as specified in the Rules, shall either be in vernacular language or in English language, as the case may be and shall be supplied as per Rules. The Investigating Officer shall inform the victim(s)/legal representative(s), driver(s), owner(s), insurance companies and other stakeholders with respect to the action taken following the M.V. Amendment Rules and shall take steps to produce the witnesses on the date, so fixed by the Tribunal. v) For the purpose to carry out the direction No. (iii), distribution of police stations attaching them with the Claim Tribunals is required. Therefore, distribution memo attaching the police stations to the Claim Tribunals shall be issued by the Registrar General of the High Courts from time to time, if not already issued to ensure the compliance of the Rules. vi) In view of the M.V. Amendment Act and Rules, as discussed hereinabove, the role of the Investigating Officer is very important. He is required to comply with the provisions of the Rules within the time limit, as prescribed therein. Therefore, for effective implementation ...

Supreme Court Pulls Up States and High Courts For Not Filing Compliance Report On Directions Issued On Motor Accident Compensation Claims

Sheryl Sebastian

Tags