Panel okays ex-gratia relief amount hike to `10L for road accident victims

In a major relief to millions of road accident victims, significantly the poor ones, the government has got the green signal from the panel over making it must in the new Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act 20016 to grant ex-gratia relief amounting to up to Rs 10 lakh in case of death of a person in mishap.

The proposal in this regard, which was before the Standing Committee of Parliament for clearance, has been finally approved. Earlier, only Rs 2 lakh was paid as compensation in the matters of road fatalities.

It's worth mentioning that after comprehensive discussion over the formulation of new Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, the Centre had introduced the revamped Bill in Parliament's Monsoon Session in August 2016. The Bill was referred to Standing Committee of the House on the demand of Opposition members in Lok Sabha.

According to sources, the Opposition members had raised questions over the intent of different provisions in the new Bill, including the compensation clause, which has been approved.

"The panel has approved the time bound payment of compensation amount to relatives of road accident mishaps and liability of compensation has been fixed to insurance companies. As the new law comes into effect, the insurance companies would have to pay minimum Rs 10 lakh ex-gratia amount to victim's kin and that too within 3 months," the source said.

The sources further said that another major provision — payment of extra compensation to victim's family on the order of Motor Accidents Claims Tribunals by insurance companies instead of transporters — has also been cleared by the panel. The committee maintained that when a person is insured, it's the liability of insurance firms to bear the cost.

The provision would empower family members of road rage victims as they can approach tribunals for higher relief compensation if not satisfied by the claim offered by insurance companies.

Now, the Bill would be introduced afresh in the upcoming session of Parliament and the government is hopeful that it would be passed.

Commenting on the development, All India Motor Transport Congress general secretary Naveen Gupta said: "We welcome the decision of the panel. It's good that liability of compensation has been fixed to insurance companies as it's their responsibility only. But at the same time, provisions of exorbitant penalty in the new Bill have opened windows for corruption. The cases of traffic personnel harassing drivers/transporters would rise in coming days."

In India, over 400 people were killed in road accidents every day and the figures are on the rise. According to the data of Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, 1,46,133 people were killed in road accidents in India in 2015, a 4.6 percent rise over 2014 when 1,39,671 people were killed.