The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought the response of various Union ministries and the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority for a direction to take coordinated efforts to prevent road accidents.
A Bench of Chief Justice P. Sathasivam and Justices Ranjana Desai and Ranjan Gogoi asked them to file their response in four weeks on a public interest litigation petition by Coimbatore orthopaedic surgeon S. Rajasekaran.
The petitioner said: “There is no national problem that required more attention than the one which results in a death every four minutes, disabling four citizens every minute, a loss of 3% GDP every year, a loss of Rs. 7 lakh crore in primary treatment, and an unspecified amount lost in physical disability.” It deserved to be termed a “national emergency.”Lack of coordination and cohesiveness among government departments “is the cause for ineffectual implementation of laws.” The lack of public education and the appalling condition of infrastructure resulted in citizens being deprived of their lives, a condition manifestly violative of Article 21 (Right to life and personal liberty). The “total failure and inaction” on the part of the various ministries to commit themselves to ending road accidents, in addition to depriving citizens of the right to lives, “is responsible for pulling down the country’s status in the growing economies.”
Dr. Rajasekaran wanted the authorities to take practical measures expeditiously to give effect to the numerous legislation, reports and recommendations for ensuring that the loss of lives in accidents was minimised. “It would be a grave miscarriage of justice if laws are not amended to make insurance companies liable if a patient is denied treatment due to delay in sanction of the insurance money that a patient is entitled to. Insurance laws should provide for equal if not higher compensation to the injured (as against to the next of kin of the dead) who get disabled for life.”
