Bihar looks to simplify road accident claims, fast-track aid

PATNA: Bihar is set to become the first state to simplify claims of road traffic accident (RTA) insurance by removing the victims or their dependants from the litigation process and paying them an interim ex-gratia amount of ₹5 lakh within 15 days in the event of a death, officials aware of the matter said.

The state will also take the onus to contest the case in court, on behalf of the victim, if the insurance firm of the accused vehicle owner decides to challenge the order, the people quoted above said.

From September 15, the state is to set implement the new amendment to the Bihar Motor Vehicle Rules that empowers the transport appellate tribunal to settle all such accident claims within 60 days. The new amendment was notified in the Bihar gazette on August 11 after a cabinet order. So far, road traffic accident insurance claims are tried in the civil court and can linger on for years.

“This is the first of its kind initiative in India to simplify accident claims,” said Bihar’s transport secretary, Sanjay Kumar Agarwal.

The new rules allow immediate payment of ₹5 lakh as interim compensation in case of a death and ₹50,000 for grievous injury to dependants or victims of road accidents involving vehicles that are insured, uninsured or in hit-and-run cases. The relief for grievous injury is proposed to be increased from ₹50,000 to ₹2.5 lakh.

As part of the new rules, victims or their relatives will not have to run from pillar to post for the settlement of claims, people quoted above said. The state will pay the interim compensation and also take the responsibility of fighting a legal suit on behalf of the victim if an insurance firm were to challenge its order. “We have set up a revolving corpus of ₹50 crore under the Bihar motor vehicle accident assistance fund through which such payments will be made,” said Agarwal.

In case of insured vehicles, the state will pay the compensation to the victim or their dependants through the corpus fund and recover the amount from the insurance firm after the tribunal settles the case within the stipulated 60 days, he added.

For uninsured vehicles, the state will recover the compensation amount by auctioning the vehicle if its owner is unable to pay the compensation to the victim’s family. Should the amount realised through auction be less than the compensation, the state will bear the difference amount through the Bihar motor vehicle accident assistance fund, said Agarwal. Nearly 20% of about 1.4 million registered vehicles in the state till 2019-20 do not renew their insurance, according to estimates. “We will start a special drive to check for insurance of motor vehicles soon,” he said.

For hit-and-run case, the compensation will be borne through state’s corpus fund and replenished partially by the Centre.

STATE PLANS TO REMOVE VICTIMS OR DEPENDANTS FROM LITIGATION PROCESS AND PAY THEM AN INTERIM EX-GRATIA OF ₹5L WITHIN 15 DAYS