Road to a better place

Recent developments in the jurisprudence of motor accident claims validate some simple home truths. First, the letter of the law is of limited efficacy unless it is imbued with meaning sourced from real-life problems. Second, an institution is only as good as the person who mans it. Third, even seemingly insipid legal jurisdictions can be developed into dramatic instruments of social and economic change by creative judicial craftsmanship.
We can ignore frightening statistics regarding road accidents in India only at our own peril. All India accidents in 2004 were 4,21,910 involving 82,618 deaths in one year alone i.e., 254 persons per day. In 2007, that figure was 314 persons per day. The vast majority are poor pedestrians or bicycle/scooter riders. Most of the victims are also the sole breadwinners leaving behind large families. Illiteracy coupled with economic and social disability makes effective pursuit of compensation claims by legal representatives of the deceased largely illusory.
The bane of accident compensation litigation has been the humongous delay in disposal of claim cases arising from delays at every step. By creating a separate, exclusive roster for accident cases, the Delhi high court chief justice (AP Shah J) and the judge in charge of the roster (Midha J) have done yeoman service.
As many as 10 appeals are disposed by this roster every day and by mid-2010, the Delhi high court is likely to achieve the miraculous result of an arrears-free accident claims roster. Second, the scourge of huge delays at the level of the claims tribunal is now likely to be eliminated through path-breaking judicial orders between April and July 2009 in the Rajesh Tyagi case. Under these orders, within 30 days of registration of an accident, the accident-information-report (AIR) must reach the Claims Tribunal from the police. The AIR has to contain all details about the accident and must be accompanied with relevant documents, site plan, photographs, driving licence, insurance documents and so on.
An identical set must also reach the insurance company concerned within 30 days. The insurance company is obliged to investigate the claim and submit a copy of its report before the tribunal within a further 30 days. Absent any defence, the insurance company has to deposit the admitted amount with the tribunal.
By another order of April 2009, Midha J has created a special scheme for victims whereby the deposited amounts are kept in a special account with a higher interest rate in such a manner that monthly payments to the victims of road accidents increase 10 per cent every year to meet inflation.
Since almost 30 per cent of the Indian accident victims involve uninsured vehicles, there is an urgent need to adopt the South African paradigm of mandatory automatic 100 per cent vehicle insurance cover for third-party risk. Owners in South Africa are not required to take any third party policy. A surcharge is added to the cost of petrol/diesel and the amount is pooled in a Road Accident Fund managed by a commission. The commission lays down principles for computation and disbursement of compensation. The South African system is also significantly more equitable as those who use vehicles more contribute more to the fund by paying more premium. Each of these innovations deserves immediate incorporation into Indian law.
The proposed amendment Bill to the Motor Vehicles Act pending in the Indian Parliament should consider inclusion of rules similar to the Workmen's Compensation Act, which mandates prompt provisional payment by the employer to the extent of admitted liability. Delay in deposit by the employer beyond 30 days incurs minimum 12 per cent or higher prevailing bank rates. Insurance companies must be subjected to the same regime.
It is only such compassionate approaches which can provide the healing touch to the poor, needy and voiceless victims of road accidents, which snuff out far more lives than deadly diseases do.
The writer is a Congress MP and national spokesperson of the party.