Be prompt in paying accident victims: Supreme Court

Concerned with the rising death toll due to road accidents, the Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Centre to levy a surcharge on the existing petrol price and other transport fuels to augment a fund for paying timely compensation to the victims.

India has gained the dubious distinction being one of the countries with the largest number of motor accidents deaths or injuries, a bench of justices RV Raveendran, Mukundakam Sharma and KS Radhakrishnan observed. They issued a series of directions to the Centre and states to ensure prompt and proper compensation.

The fund would replace the existing system of third party insurance that involves inordinate delays in disbursement of compensation to the victims’ dependents. Alternatively there could be a scheme for collecting one time third party insurance premium by a Central Insurance Agency for every vehicle sold, the bench said.

At present, only a third party victim is entitled to compensation under Motor Vehicles Act as the occupants or other passengers travelling in the vehicle, even if killed or injured, are deprived of the benefits. Judges proposed to form a commission to manage the fund, so that compensation is paid to all the accident victims without any exception. The Court will issue more directions on Thursday.

The system of levying surcharge on the sale of petrol and diesel and crediting the same to such a fund is functional in South Africa and other African nations. In these countries, the fund is managed by the Road Accident Fund Commissions.