Requirement for the police to forward to the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal“Accident Information Report” (AIR) which the Tribunal has to treat as an application for compensation:

 

Requirement for the police to forward to the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal“Accident Information Report” (AIR) which the Tribunal has to treat as an application for compensation: 

The Bench comprising of Three Hon'ble Lordships of Hon'ble apex Court in the case of Jai Prakash v/s National Insurance Com.Ltd, reported in 2010 (2) GLR 1787 (SC) has given following directions to Police and Tribunals.

A) Directions to the Police Authorities :

(i) Accident Information Report ('AIR', for short) in Form No. 54 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 shall be submitted by the police (Station House Officer) to the jurisdictional Motor Accidents Claims

Tribunal, within 30 days of the registration of the F.I.R. In addition to the particulars required to be furnished in Form No.54, the police should also collect and furnish the following additional particulars in the AIR to the Tribunal :

(i) The age of the victims at the time of accident;

(ii) The income of the victim;

 The Director General of Police of each State is directed to instruct all police stations in his State to comply with the provisions of Sec. 158(6) of the Act. For this purpose, the following steps will have to be taken by the Station House Officers of the jurisdictional police stations :

(iii) The names and ages of the dependent family members.

(ii) The AIR shall be accompanied by the attested copies of the F.I.R., site sketch/mahazar/photographs of the place of occurrence, driving licence of the driver, insurance policy (and if necessary, fitness certificate) of the vehicle and post mortem report (in case of death) or the injured or dependent family members of the deceased should also be furnished to

the Tribunal.

(iii) Simultaneously, a copy of the AIR with annexures thereto shall be furnished to the Insurance Company concerned to enable the insurer to process the claim.

(iv) The police shall notify the first date of hearing fixed by the Tribunal to the victim (injured) or the family of the victim (in case of death) and the driver, owner and insurer. If so directed by the Tribunal, the police may secure their presence on the first date of hearing.

B) Directions to the Claims Tribunals :

The Registrar General of each High Court is directed to instruct all Claims Tribunals in his State to register the reports of accidents received under Sec. 158(6) of the Act as applications for compensation under Sec.166(4) of the Act and deal with them without waiting for the filing of claim applications by the injured or by the family of the deceased. The Registrar General shall ensure that necessary registers, forms and other support is extended to the Tribunal to give effect to Sec. 166(4) of the Act.

 For complying with Sec. 166(4) of the Act, the

jurisdictional Motor Accidents Claims Tribunals shall

initiate the following steps :

 

(a) The Tribunal shall maintain an institution register for recording the AIRs which are received from the Station House Officers of the police stations and register them as miscellaneous petitions. If any private claim petitions are directly filed with reference to an AIR, they should also be recorded in the register.

(b) The Tribunal shall list the AIRs as miscellaneous petitions. It shall fix a date for preliminary hearing so as to enable the police to notify such date to the victim (family of the victim in the event of death) and the owner, driver and insurer of the vehicle involved in the accident. Once,the claimant(s) appear, the miscellaneous application shall be converted to claim petition. Where a claimant(s) file the claim petition even before the receipt of the AIR by the Tribunal, the AIR may be tagged to the claim petition.

(c) The Tribunal shall enquire and satisfy itself that the AIR relates to a real accident and is not the result of any collusion and fabrication of an accident (by any "police officer Advocate doctor" nexus, which has come to light in

several cases).

(d) The Tribunal shall by a summary enquiry ascertain the dependent family members/legal heirs. The jurisdictional police shall also enquire and submit the names of the dependent legal heirs.

(e) The Tribunal shall categorise the claim cases registered, into those where the insurer disputes liability and those where the insurer does not dispute the liability.

(f) Wherever the insurer does not dispute the liability under the policy, the Tribunal shall make an endeavour to determine the compensation amount by a summary enquiry or refer the matter to the Lok Adalat for settlement, so as to dispose of the claim petition itself, within a timeframe not exceeding six months from the date of registration of the claim petition.

(g) The Insurance Companies shall be directed to deposit the admitted amount or the amount determined, with the Claims Tribunals within 30 days of determination. The Tribunals should ensure that the compensation amount is kept in a fixed deposit and disbursed as per the directions

contained in Kerala S.R.T.C. v. Susamma Thomas, 1994 (2) SCC 176.

(h) As the proceeding initiated in pursuance of Secs.158(6) and 166(4) of the Act are different in nature from an application by the victims(s) under Sec. 166(1) of the Act, Sec. 170 will not apply. The insurers will therefore be entitled to assist the Tribunal (either independently or with the owners of the vehicles) to verify the correctness in regard to the accident, injuries, age, income and dependents of the deceased victim and in determining the

quantum of compensation.

C) Direction with respect to investment:In

para No. 28 & 29 of Jai Prakash's case (supra) it has been held as under:“

28. To protect and preserve the compensation amount awarded to the families of the deceased victim special schemes may be considered by the Insurance Companies in consultation with Life Insurance Corporation of India, State Bank of India or any other Nationalised Banks. One proposal is for formulation of a scheme in consultation with the Nationalised Banks under which the compensation is kept in a fixed deposit for an appropriate period and interest is paid by the Bank monthly to the claimants without any need for the claimants having to approach either the Court or their Counsel or the Bank for that purpose. The scheme should ensure that the amount of compensation is utilized only for the benefit of the injured claimants or in case of death, for the benefit of the dependent family”.

29. We extract below the particulars of a special scheme offered by a Nationalised Bank at the instance of the Delhi High Court :

(i) The fixed deposit shall be automatically renewed till the period prescribed by the Court.

(ii) The interest on the fixed deposit shall be paid monthly.

(iii) The monthly interest shall be credited automatically in the savings account of the claimant.

(iv) Original fixed deposit receipt shall be retained by the Bank in safe custody. However, the original passbook shall be given to the claimant along with the photocopy of the F.D.R.

(v) The original fixed deposit receipt shall be handed over to the claimant at the end of the fixed deposit period.

(vi) Photo identity card shall be issued to the claimant and the withdrawal shall be permitted only after due verification by the Bank of the identity card of the claimant.

(vii) No cheque book shall be issued to the claimant without the permission of the Court.

(viii) No loan, advance or withdrawal shall be allowed on the fixed deposit without the permission of the Court.

(ix) The claimant can operate the Savings Bank account from the nearest branch of U.CO. Bank and on the request of the claimant, the Bank shall provide the said facility”.

Hon'ble Apex Court on 13/05/2016 has further directed all the Registrar Generals of all the High Courts to ensure that the “Claims Tribunal Agreed Procedure” which was formulated by the Delhi High Court in the judgment dated 16.12.2009 passed in FAO No.843 of 2003 in Rajesh Tyagi vs. Jaibir Singh, is implemented through the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunals in coordination with the Legal Service Authorities as well as the Director General of Police of the States concerned.