THE JHARKHAND STORY NETWORK
Daltonganj, Nov 24: Principal District and Sessions Judge (PDJ) Niraj Kumar Srivastav today held an interactive sitting with advocates whose clientele are the insurance companies, ahead of the fourth and last National Lok Adalat of the year 2023, due on December 9.
A senior advocate, Salabh Singh, told this correspondent, “The principal district and sessions judge laid stress on maximum settlement of claims under the MACT which is Motor Accident Claim Tribunal.”
Singh said, “The PDJ desired to see that the deceased families of the motor accidents ought not to wait for long for settlements of the claims where one of the important stakeholders is the insurance company which doles out the claim money.”
Role of insurance company
The insurance company gives a claim to the insured vehicle involved in the motor accident. In contrast, for the uninsured vehicle involved in the motor accident, it’s the owner concerned to give the claim money, Singh pointed out.
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Role of police
On being asked, from where the hitch comes to claim the compensation, Singh said, “It’s the police. It takes inordinate time to file a charge sheet.”
“The PDJ has asked the advocates to furnish a list of motor accident cases where the police have not filed the charge sheet. Thereafter, he will take up this issue with the SP,” added Singh.
5th amendment to Central Motor Vehicles Rules 2022
The 5th amendment to the Central Motor Vehicles Rules 2022 gives police less time to go slow in motor accident cases as the respective police station under whose limits the motor accident takes place police has to institute an FIR within 24 hours of the time of the accident and police is to intimate this to the motor accident claim tribunal about the motor accident within 48 hours of the said accident through the First Accident Report (FAR).
Again a Detailed Accident Report (DAR) is to be filed by the police in its motor accident claim tribunal within 30 days of the date of the accident.
Claim to compensation takes into account the age, income, and number of dependents to the deceased.
Further, seized vehicles in motor accident cases can’t be kept for months and years as the 5th amendment to the Central Motor Vehicles Rules 2022, mandates such a seized vehicle to be released within 15 to 30 days.
If the seized vehicle is uninsured, then its release will come only after a deposit of 5 lakhs of rupees.
However, there is silence if there is no deposit of 5 lakh rupees for uninsured vehicles involved in a motor accident.
There is no word about the auction of such seized uninsured vehicles involved in the motor accident.
Again, the claim for compensation has to come in 90 days.
Workshop on MACT
There was a workshop on MACT in the civil courts in Daltonganj on September 3 where the District and Additional Sessions Judge Santosh Kumar explained to the police officials and media personnel the finer points of the 5th amendment of Central Motor Vehicles Rules 2022.
Santosh Kumar had in the said workshop on MACT referred to a landmark judgement of the Supreme Court in the case of Gohar Mohammad and the state of UP 2021 where the Supreme Court gave immense relief to the victim of the motor accident along with the ease of release of the seized offending vehicle involved in the motor accident.
Palamu a high motor accident case district
Palamu district is a high motor accident case district where during the festive season or marriage season motor accident cases shoot up. Here the role of the MACT becomes most important.
There are five motor accident claim tribunals in the Civil Courts of Palamu, Daltonganj.
These five motor accident claim tribunals have 25 police stations within their ambit.
Sources said the deceased families of the motor accident cases look forward to the National Lok Adalat with hope and satisfaction of claim coming over to them.
The interactive setting of the PDJ saw a host of advocates namely C K Mishra, P K Mishra, Naushad Akbar, Liaquat Ali, Umesh Yadav, Rajiv Ranjan and others. At the same time, from the bench side were District and Additional Sessions Judge Abhimanyu Kumar, registrar of the civil courts Amit Gupta, secretary of the DLSA Palamu Arpit Srivastav etc.
