Who’ll compensate road mishap victim?

MAN WHO CAUSED CAR ACCIDENT WANTS LIABILITY IMPOSED BY PUNJAB AND HARYANA HC PASSED ON TO REGISTERED OWNER

NEW DELHI: Who is to compensate a road accident victim – registered owner of the vehicle involved or the one who buys it but doesn’t own it on paper?

The Supreme Court faced this question last week when a man approached it with a request to absolve him of the financial liability the Punjab and Haryana high court imposed on him because his car was involved in an accident. He argued that since the car was not transferred in his name, though he purchased it and was driving at the time of the accident, he was under no obligation to pay. Citing the existing law, petitioner Naveen Kumar said the registered owner should bear the expenditure.

A bench headed by justice SA Bobde agreed to examine the issue after Kumar’s counsel, Rishi Malhotra, read out the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act (MV) in support of his client’s case. The Act makes the “registered” and not the “real owner” accountable. He said the high court had erred in directing Kumar to pay `5.23 lakh to the family of a person killed by the car.

A ruling on the issue is likely to bring clarity in the MV Act that is silent on deciding who shall get the ownership transferred in the new owner’s name – the buyer or the seller. “There is a grey area in the law that does not specify who shall ensure a name change in the papers,” Malhotra told HT.

The MV Act lists only two contingencies under which a vehicle’s registered owner is not liable in case of an accident. First, when a minor is driving. And, second, when it’s under a hire-purchase agreement. But Malhotra said the high court created a third contingency whereby the registered owner’s responsibility is dispensed with. “This is not contemplated under the MV Act,” he said.

The Supreme Court has, however, stayed the implementation of the high court order and issued notice to the registered owner of the vehicle in question.