Page 38 - Insurance Times March 2022

It ordered the firm to pay Rs 15,000 compensation for the The state has set up a revolving corpus of Rs.50 crore under
delay, apart from granting her the insurance claim of Rs the Bihar motor vehicle accident assistance fund through
1,37,824. Claiming that the local court erred in its which such payments will be made. In case of insured
judgment, Liberty Videocon General Insurance appealed to vehicles, the state will pay the compensation to the victim
Karnataka State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission or their dependents through the corpus fund and recover
on October 22, 2020. The judges, however, noted that on the amount from the insurance firm after the tribunal settles
the date of theft, the vehicle was under insurance cover and the case within the stipulated 60 days. For uninsured
the complainant intimated the firm for settlement of the vehicles, the state will recover the compensation amount
claim and also lodged a police complaint. Further, she had by auctioning the vehicle if its vehicle owner is unable to
requested the RTO for transfer of vehicle ownership and the pay the compensation to the victim's family. Should the
stand taken by the insurer. amount realised through auction be less than the
compensation fixed, the state will bear the difference
Simplification of Road Traffic Accident amount through the Bihar motor vehicle accident assistance
fund.
Claims:
Bihar ranks 15th in India in terms of road accidents and ninth Nearly 20% of the 13.60 lakh registered vehicles in the state
in terms of fatalities arising out of them, as per the latest till 2019-20 do not renew their insurance. For hit-and-run
data released by the ministry of road transport and highways case, the compensation amount will be borne through the
(MoRT&H) in 2019. Bihar had only 9.3 recorded cases of corpus fund and replenished partially by the Centre through
road accidents against the national average of 34.2 per lakh insurance companies, which pay Rs.50,000. The state will
population in 2019. With a score of 11.7, it ranked 22nd in bear the remaining Rs.4,50,000 in deaths involving hit-and-
terms of accidents per 10,000 vehicles. Bihar will be the run cases. Under the changed rules, all sub-divisional officers
first state to simplify claims of road traffic accident (RTA) by (SDO) will be the accident claim inquiry officer and district
removing the victim or their dependents from the litigation magistrates (DM) the accident claims assessment officer.
process and paying them an interim ex-gratia amount of The SDO conducts the inquiry on the basis of site inspection
Rs.5 lakh within 15 days in event of death. done by the police and the motor vehicle inspector.

The state will also take the onus to contest the case in court, The changed rules do not mandate any site inspection or
on behalf of the victim, if the insurance firm of the accused examination of witness at the trial stage. If challenged, the
vehicle owner, decides to challenge the order. The state will case will be adjudicated on the basis of a summary trial based
implement the new amendment to the Bihar Motor Vehicle on the petition of the victim or their relatives, deposition
Rules that empowers the state transport appellate tribunal by the insurance firm and reports by the police, the SDO
to settle all such accident claims within 60 days. The new and DM. In case the tribunal or a higher court awards a
amendment was notified in the Bihar gazette on August 11 higher compensation, the difference of the amount already
after a cabinet order. paid as interim compensation would be credited into the
bank account of the victim's family. However, in case of an
So far, road traffic accident claims are tried in the civil court adverse order for the government, the interim amount
and linger for years. This is the first of its kind initiative in already paid as compensation to the family of the victim will
India to simplify accident claims. The new rules allow not be taken back but adjusted through the Bihar motor
immediate payment of Rs.5 lakh as interim compensation vehicle accident assistance fund.
for death and Rs.50,000 for grievous injury to dependents
or victims of road traffic accidents, involving vehicles that No Insurance Claim if Vehicle Driven
are insured, uninsured or involved in hit-and-run case.
Without Valid Registration:
The compensation for grievous injury is proposed to be Supreme Court has come out with the observation that car
increased from Rs.50,000 to Rs.2.5 lakh. As part of the new insurance claim for vehicles without valid registration can
rules, victims or their relatives will not have to run from pillar be denied. The observation was made on Saturday when
to post for settlement of claim. The state will pay the Supreme Court rejected an insurance claim of a car with
interim compensation and also take the responsibility of temporary registration which was reportedly stolen. United
fighting a legal suit on behalf of the victim if an insurance India Insurance Company Limited, one of the public sector
firm were to challenge its order. general insurance companies in India, filed an appeal against

38 The Insurance Times, March 2022