The Supreme Court has sought the Centre’s response on an application seeking expedition of compensation to victims of hit-and-run cases, after it was informed that at least 98% of affected people are awaiting relief over such accidents that took place between 2017 and 2021.
On Wednesday, a bench of justices AS Oka and Pankaj Mithal directed the Centre to submit its response by October 9 on the application filed by a citizen Kishan Chand Jain, who also sought creation of an online dashboard to provide the status of each claim and changes in the Motor Vehicles (MV) Act, 1988.
“No further time shall be granted,” the bench told additional solicitor general (ASG) Vikramjit Banerjee, who appeared for the government and sought four weeks to respond to the petition. On September 1, the court had sought the government’s response by September 6.
The top court has been monitoring issues pertaining to road safety since 2012, in a PIL filed by one S Rajaseekaran, when it even appointed a Committee on Road Safety chaired by a retired Supreme Court judge to recommend various safety measures.
For hit-and-run cases, the government had earlier earmarked a sum of ₹25,000 to be paid to the nearest kin of a deceased and ₹12,500 for those grievously injured. In 2019, the Committee on Road Safety recommended enhancement of compensation to ₹2 lakh in cases of death and ₹50,000 for those grievously injured. These recommendations became part of a 2022 scheme called ‘Compensation to Victims of Hit and Run Motor Accidents Scheme’. Under it, a fund was also set up to meet compensation claims for hit-and-run victims.
Jain’s application said compensation was provided to only 1.2% of the total 442,575 victims of hit-and-run cases which took place between 2017 and 2021. He cited a response given by Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari to a question in Parliament on March 16 this year, that compensation was awarded to only 4,958 victims of such accidents during the given period. Of these, 3,137 were cases of deaths and 1,821 pertained to grievous injuries.
The latest annual report of the transport ministry said a total of 336,374 accidents took place between 2017 and 2021, in which 131,240 people died and 311,335 survived with serious injuries.
In his application, Jain also said out of approximately 80,000 hit-and-run cases between January 2022 and February 2023, only 78 affected people were provided compensation.
The court-appointed amicus curiae, advocate Gaurav Agarwal, assisting on behalf of the Committee on Road Safety, supported the cause of the petitioner as it came forward with constructive suggestions for providing compensation to the victims.
