Dear (s)
Do you know the
significance of third Sunday in November every year ? Two news items that
featured recently in ‘Times of India’ offers a perplexing perspective.
With the
increasing no. of vehicles, congested roads, speed, recklessness, urbanization,
transport vehicles – accidents on the road are common place. Many of us have
seen some accidents – death and injuries are not to be construed at medico
legal phenomena alone. There are many profound psychological and social
consequences apart from the death or the injuries. The sufferings can seldom be
quantified in financial terms. More significant would be the horrific trauma
caused to those bereaved by the sudden, unexpected snatching away of the bread
winner.
With the
development of civilization, act of negligence have become actionable wrong. In
the English Law any person or the legal representative of deceased person who
expired on account of negligent act of other can besides instituting criminal
proceeding, recover damages under the Law of Torts. In days of yore, to give
effective rights to the person injured or expired in an accident, Fatal
Accidents Act, 1885 was enacted in India
Claims Tribunal
have been set up in accordance with the statute and the injured or the legal
representatives of deceased can file claim application in MACT. No limitation
has been prescribed for filing of the claim application though initially when
law was enforced it was 6 months, ultimately in the garb of welfare legislation
the provision of limitation has been deleted. There are lot of assumptions
which go in to the assessment of compensation and there is all possibility of
variance from Judge to Judge in applying the various principles enunciated by
the Courts from time to time.
There have been
fanciful and fabulous awards and recently a MACT awarded a compensation of
Rs.2.23 crore against Oriental Insurance to two brothers who lost their parents
and elder sister in a truck accident at Muzaffarnagar on 30.12.2004. Elsewhere, the Delhi High Court in Aug 2009
awarded compensation of Rs.2.3 million to the family of man killed in road
accident involving an autorickshaw in Sept 1988.
It was briefly
reported in Press that the Centre is working on a plan for a cashless system
whereby the government would bear all medical expenses during the first 48
hours of hospitalization of road accidents, which would be a very welcome move
and would immensely benefit victims who have no relatives around to take care
and pay for their medical expenses at the time of an accident. There have been
bogus claims also before the various MACT
The first is the
news item of concern to all Insurers that appeared on 26.10.09 : PSU insurance
firms pay Rs 4,000cr/yr to accident victims
This spoke of the
high death toll on India
The burden keeps
increasing as it takes nearly a decade many a times before the final order is
pronounced and the Insurers have to pay the principal + interest on it from the
day the claim was filed. Nearly 40,000 people are killed in road accidents in India
Quoting Ministry
of Road Transport and Highways, the newspaper had mentioned the amounts paid as
:
2006-2007-------------Rs 3,741 crore
2007-2008-------------Rs 3,865 crore
2008-2009-------------Rs 3,975 crore
Whilst this is
one side, the other side was represented in Times of India (2nd Nov 09) which
states that Over 11,000 Families Waiting For Compensation since many years.
This report
states that Speeding state transport corporation (STC) buses are not just among
the worst killers on the roads, they are also the biggest defaulters when it
comes to paying compensation to accident victims. The STCs in Tamil Nadu owe a
whopping Rs 323.96 crore in compensation to 11,233 victims and their families,
based on information obtained under the Right to Information Act. The report
states that STCs have not settled compensation amounts of Rs 18.61 crore
awarded by the Madras High Court and a startling Rs 305.14 crore ordered by the
accident tribunals.
Some hapless
families of accident victims, like Palanichamy Gounder, have been waiting for
compensation for 28 years now. “ Palanichamy Gounder died in 1981 after being
hit by a bus; his family is yet to get compensation. The transport corporation
of the Villupuram-Kancheepuram region is the top defaulter, with dues of Rs
103.95 crore. Next comes the Kumbakonam region with Rs 43.48 crore. The
Metropolitan Transport Corporation in Chennai is not far behind, with an amount
of Rs 33.5 crore yet to be paid”. This makes agonizing wait for several
families. The hapless victims struggle to make their ends meet after long years
penance in court and after pronouncement of decree in their favour. The Law was
meant to guarantee an appropriate and immediate compensation to road accident
victims. When Govt. who should be protecting them defaults, where can go
pleading ?? would not the purpose of the welfare legislation itself be
defeated, if victims are denied their rightful due.
Agonisingly, In
Krishnagiri,(a Dist. In Tamilnadu) months ago, a court asked the families of
two accident victims to take away the bus of a transport corporation till the
compensation was paid. Despite the lower courts in the state taking a stern
view of the tardy release of compensation, most transport corporations have not
come up with a plan to clear their dues.
These reports
have far reaching consequences. On the one side, Insurers are saddled with high
awards and increased costs. Time would be ripe to provide a right of proper
contest for the Insurers to mitigate fake cases and the quantum of
compensation. There also needs some thinking on fixed structured compensations
as in the case of Rail or airways. The payment of compensation based on the
vehicle does not appear equitable as the intention of the legislation was to
provide just compensation.
Just in case, you
remembered the Question at the beginning, Third Sunday of every November is
marked at “United Nations world Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims’.
In some countries, candle light parades, gatherings, seminars and theatre
performances are conducted on this day as acknowledgement of victims of road
traffic crashes and their unfortunate families.
Look forward to
your views and feedback
With regards
The article is rich on statitics and brings to fore the extent somewhat of the bleeding the insurance industry is facing. However, some thoughts need to be shared on the lack of proactive role to be played by the insurers in coming to aid of the accident victims and ensure that the high leakage in the system is controlled. In the process insurers find themselves in the unique undesirable position of having to pay such high cost and being depicted with a black brush. Partly the blame lies on the systems and the judiciary but largely the blame lies with the insurers who can actually help themselves out of this rut.
ReplyDeleteYes Milind. Largely agree with you. The Companies are bleeding and yet have a black image. Whilst the Private players perhaps are impeded by geographical distance, PSU have procedural hassles. Not all is well with Insurers
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