Owners should buy insurance cover for vehicle’s lifetime: HC
Court Says Comprehensive Policy Should Be The Only Option
Dipak.Dash@timesgroup.com
New Delhi: 06.07.2018
A bench of the Madras high court has observed that the Centre should amend the Motor Vehicles Act to make it mandatory for every vehicle to purchase comprehensive insurance policy rather than just third party ones so that each occupant is eligible for compensation in case of death or injury.
It has also observed that the owners should make upfront payment of the premium for vehicle’s lifetime (say for 15 years) to avoid the practice of people often not renewing their policies and risking all road users.
The two-member bench has suggested the government to establish a mechanism so that whenever the insurance policy expires, this should be informed to the regional transport office (RTO) and the police department to enable them to seize the vehicle immediately.
The court’s observation came while including the transport and finance ministries and the insurance regulator IRDA suo motu as parties while hearing a case relating to the compensation awarded to the kin of a former police constable who had died in November 2010. The constable was travelling in the car when it met with the fatal accident.
Sources said the ministries will submit their views on all the issues flagged by the court and these will be placed before the court. Currently, only third party insurance cover is mandatory for every vehicle plying on the road and it’s optional for the owners to go for comprehensive policy, which includes self damage as well.
The car that had met with the fatal accident had only third party insurance cover. Challenging the compensation awarded for constable’s death, the insurance company had submitted that the compensation could not be awarded for the death of the occupant since it had only third party insurance cover.
The court observed, “No one is sure about being safe when going out in vehicles. When that is the position, having different types of policies would not help. The ideal position is that if there is a twowheeler it should have coverage for two persons, as per the seating capacity... Once a car is purchased, according to the seating capacity, the insurance should be made compulsory and no option should be given to the owner of the vehicle to choose between different types of policies.”
It further said people choosing to go for only third party insurance goes against the public.
The court also said it had been getting cases wherein the insurance of vehicles has expired and the road accident victims are helpless in getting compensation in the absence of any valid insurance cover during accident.
Paying compensation not enough, probe fatal road accidents, say experts
New Delhi:
With state governments prone to closing most cases of fatal road accidents simply by paying compensation of either ₹2 lakh or ₹5 lakh to each victim, the country’s road safety experts have raised the question of whether this is the price for a life.
Citing the recent cases of two major bus accidents in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, the experts have demanded the need to have a mandatory investigation of all fatal road accidents to establish the reason so corrective action can be taken. Though section 135 of Motor Vehicles Act speaks about the need for state governments to frame schemes for the investigation of accident cases, it completely leaves to their discretion to make one or more schemes for “an in-depth study on causes and analysis of motor vehicle accidents.”.
But hardly any state has such a system in place and in almost all cases low level police officers investigate the cases and close them, largely blaming the driver for rash and negligent driving.
International Road Federation (IRF) chairman K K Kapila said robust crash investigation should be the focus of the law that is being reworked. TNN
Court Says Comprehensive Policy Should Be The Only Option
Dipak.Dash@timesgroup.com
New Delhi: 06.07.2018
A bench of the Madras high court has observed that the Centre should amend the Motor Vehicles Act to make it mandatory for every vehicle to purchase comprehensive insurance policy rather than just third party ones so that each occupant is eligible for compensation in case of death or injury.
It has also observed that the owners should make upfront payment of the premium for vehicle’s lifetime (say for 15 years) to avoid the practice of people often not renewing their policies and risking all road users.
The two-member bench has suggested the government to establish a mechanism so that whenever the insurance policy expires, this should be informed to the regional transport office (RTO) and the police department to enable them to seize the vehicle immediately.
The court’s observation came while including the transport and finance ministries and the insurance regulator IRDA suo motu as parties while hearing a case relating to the compensation awarded to the kin of a former police constable who had died in November 2010. The constable was travelling in the car when it met with the fatal accident.
Sources said the ministries will submit their views on all the issues flagged by the court and these will be placed before the court. Currently, only third party insurance cover is mandatory for every vehicle plying on the road and it’s optional for the owners to go for comprehensive policy, which includes self damage as well.
The car that had met with the fatal accident had only third party insurance cover. Challenging the compensation awarded for constable’s death, the insurance company had submitted that the compensation could not be awarded for the death of the occupant since it had only third party insurance cover.
The court observed, “No one is sure about being safe when going out in vehicles. When that is the position, having different types of policies would not help. The ideal position is that if there is a twowheeler it should have coverage for two persons, as per the seating capacity... Once a car is purchased, according to the seating capacity, the insurance should be made compulsory and no option should be given to the owner of the vehicle to choose between different types of policies.”
It further said people choosing to go for only third party insurance goes against the public.
The court also said it had been getting cases wherein the insurance of vehicles has expired and the road accident victims are helpless in getting compensation in the absence of any valid insurance cover during accident.
Paying compensation not enough, probe fatal road accidents, say experts
New Delhi:
With state governments prone to closing most cases of fatal road accidents simply by paying compensation of either ₹2 lakh or ₹5 lakh to each victim, the country’s road safety experts have raised the question of whether this is the price for a life.
Citing the recent cases of two major bus accidents in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, the experts have demanded the need to have a mandatory investigation of all fatal road accidents to establish the reason so corrective action can be taken. Though section 135 of Motor Vehicles Act speaks about the need for state governments to frame schemes for the investigation of accident cases, it completely leaves to their discretion to make one or more schemes for “an in-depth study on causes and analysis of motor vehicle accidents.”.
But hardly any state has such a system in place and in almost all cases low level police officers investigate the cases and close them, largely blaming the driver for rash and negligent driving.
International Road Federation (IRF) chairman K K Kapila said robust crash investigation should be the focus of the law that is being reworked. TNN
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