Supreme Court Mandates NALSA to Draft Blueprint for Enforcing Amended Motor Vehicles Act

In a decisive move, the Supreme Court has instructed the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) to architect a comprehensive plan for executing the revised Motor Vehicles Act and the Central Motor Vehicles Rules.

Rendered by a bench presided over by Justice J K Maheshwari and Justice K V Viswanathan, this directive transpired during proceedings concerning the execution of the amended Motor Vehicles Act and the Central Motor Vehicles Rules. Notably, in December 2022, the Court had issued an array of directives pertaining to motor accident compensation. Following that, all States and Union Territories were mandated to submit compliance reports in response to these directives.

On two occasions thereafter, the Apex Court rebuked States and UTs for their failure to submit compliance reports despite explicit directives, deeming their approach ‘lethargic.’ Consequently, the Court appointed Sr. Adv. J. R. Midha as Amicus Curiae, tasking him with compiling state reports, relevant Act and Rule provisions, and judgments, and soliciting suggestions. Adv. Samrika Biswal and Adv. Sumit Chander were enlisted to assist the Amicus.

During the hearing on December 4th, the Court sought recommendations from Amicus Curiae J. R. Midha, Adv. Archana Pathak Dave representing the Union of India and General Insurance Council (GIC), Adv. Abhishek Nanda representing the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA), and Adv. Gaurav Agarwal representing NALSA. Subsequently, directives were issued for the formulation of a comprehensive scheme under the auspices of NALSA.

The Secretary of NALSA has been tasked with filing an affidavit after consulting with the Amicus Curiae, State Legal Services Authorities, officers of the Central Government, GIC, IRDA, and State officers.

In a prior order, the Apex Court instructed all State Governments and Union Territories to deposit funds with the Court’s Registrar for the Amicus Curiae’s services. States were required to deposit Rs. 30,000/- each, while UTs were instructed to deposit Rs. 20,000/-. In the latest hearing, an amount of Rs. 2,30,000/- was directed for release to the Amicus Curiae.

This matter is scheduled for further hearing on January 5th, under the case of Gohar Mohammed versus Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation & others (Civil Appeal No. 9322 of 2022).