Supreme Court Slams Centre For Not Framing Scheme For Cashless Treatment Of Road Accident Victims, Summons MoRTH Secretary

The Supreme Court today (April 9) pulled up the Central Government for failing to frame a scheme for cashless treatment of road accident victims during the “golden hour” – the one-hour period immediately after an accident, as mandated under Section 162(2) of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.The Court said, “According to us this is a very serious breach and violation of not only orders of this court, but it is a case of failure to implement a very beneficial provision in the statute.”A bench of Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan summoned the Secretary of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to appear before it on April 28, 2025, to explain the default.“We direct the Secretary of Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways to personally remain present through VC on 28th April 2025 to explain the default on part of the central government.”The Court had on January 8, 2025, directed the Central Government to frame the scheme under Section 162(2) by March 14, 2025, and submit its details along with an affidavit explaining the implementation by March 21, 2025. The Court had stressed the urgency of implementing the statutory scheme, stating that it would help save lives of road accident victims who often do not receive timely medical treatment. Today, the Court observed that the deadline granted to the Government to formulate the scheme had expired on March 14, 2025. Justice Oka warned that contempt proceedings would be initiated if no progress is made. “We only directed you to implement your own statute. We are making it very clear that we will issue notice of contempt also if we find that no progress is made. People are losing their lives because there is no treatment. Let the secretary come and explain. Otherwise we are putting it or notice that we will take action again under the Contempt of Courts Act,” he said. The counsel for the Union of India submitted, “We will do it, there are some bottle necks.” Justice Oka responded, “We have seen from our long experience, only when we get top government officials here then they take the orders of the court seriously. Otherwise they won't take it.”Under Section 162(2) of the Motor Vehicles Act, the Central Government is required to frame a scheme for providing cashless treatment to motor accident victims during the “golden hour”, which is defined under Section 2(12-A) of the Act as the period of one hour following a traumatic injury when prompt treatment has the highest likelihood of preventing death. Though Section 162 came into force on April 1, 2022, no scheme has yet been implemented. The matter pertains to a writ petition filed by Dr. S. Rajaseekaran, Chairman and Head of Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Ganga Hospital, Coimbatore, highlighting road accident deaths. Advocate Kishan Chand Jain filed an interlocutory application seeking directions for implementation of Section 162.Today, the Court also dealt with issues related to the processing of claims in hit-and-run motor accident cases. Referring to its order dated January 8, 2025, the Court noted that as of July 31, 2024, 921 claims were pending with the General Insurance Council (GIC). It directed GIC to place on record the latest figures on pending applications.The Court further directed the Chief Secretary of the Transport Department to issue instructions in writing to all district magistrates to upload details of claims related to hit-and-run cases on the GIC portal. It added that if there are any difficulties in uploading the claims or in the functioning of the portal, such issues should be brought to the notice of GIC.Amicus curiae Gaurav Agarwal pointed out that, as per order dated 12th January 2024, some State Legal Services Authorities have been diligently conducting meetings regarding the processing of claims. On January 12, 2024, the Court directed that a Monitoring Committee to be set up in every district to oversee the implementation of the Victim Compensation Scheme including the Secretary of the District Legal Services Authority (as Convener), a Claims Enquiry Officer nominated by the State Government, and a police officer not below the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police nominated by the District Superintendent of Police. The Committee must meet at least once every two months to review compliance with the directions.The Court directed all Legal Services Authorities to submit compliance reports in this regard by July 15, 2025. GIC has also been directed to file an affidavit detailing the status of the claims and compliance with the order by the same date.In previous hearings, the Court has taken note of low claim settlement rates under the Compensation to Victims of Hit and Run Motor Accidents Scheme, 2022. The Court had directed GIC to coordinate with claim settlement officers to resolve deficiencies and process claims. It also asked GIC to complete the development of a digital portal for claim processing and report compliance by March 14, 2025.Case no. – WP (C) No....

Supreme Court Slams Centre For Not Framing Scheme For Cashless Treatment Of Road Accident Victims, Summons MoRTH Secretary

Amisha Shrivastava

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