Supreme Court - Daily Orders
Bajaj Allianz General Insurance ... vs Union Of India on 16 March, 2021
Bench: Sanjay Kishan Kaul, R. Subhash Reddy
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ITEM NO.10 Court 9 (Video Conferencing) SECTION X
S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
Writ Petition(s)(Civil) No(s). 534/2020
BAJAJ ALLIANZ GENERAL INSURANCE COMPANY
PRIVATE LTD. Petitioner(s)
VERSUS
UNION OF INDIA & ORS. Respondent(s)
(IA No. 132263/2020 - APPROPRIATE ORDERS/DIRECTIONS)
Date : 16-03-2021 The matter was called on for hearing today.
CORAM :
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SANJAY KISHAN KAUL
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE R. SUBHASH REDDY
Mr. Narasimhan Vijayaraghavan, AC
Mr. Vipin Nair, AOR
For Petitioner(s) Ms. Meenakshi Arora,Sr. Adv.
Mr. Siddharth, AOR
Mr. Amit Kumar Agrawal, Adv.
Ms. Mamta Meghwal, Adv.
For Respondent(s) Mr. J.K. Sud, Ld. ASG
Ms. Garima Prashad, Adv.
Mr. Bhuvan Mishra, Adv.
Mr. Navanjay Mahapatra, Adv.
Ms. Sanya Sud, Adv.
Mr. Randeep Sachdeva, Adv.
Mr. Harish Nadda, Adv.
Mr. Raj Bahadur Yadav, Adv.
Mr. G.S. Makker, Adv.
Mr. B.V. Balram Das, Adv.
Arunachal Pradesh Mr. Abhimanyu Tewari, AOR
Ms. Eliza Bar, Adv.
Chhattisgarh Mr. Sourav Roy, Adv./Dy. Adv. Gen.
Mr. Mahesh Kumar, Adv.
Mr. Suushant Yadav, Adv.
Signature Not Verified
Mr. Prabudh Singh, Adv.
Digitally signed by
Charanjeet kaur
Date: 2021.03.17 Mr. Leela Dhar Prajapat, Adv.
18:26:10 IST
Reason: Ms. Devika Khanna, Adv.
Mrs. V.D. Khanna, Adv.
M/s VMZ Chambers, AOR
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Gujarat Mr. Satyalipsu Ray, Adv.
Ms. Deepanwita Priyanka, Adv.
Mr. Aniruddha P. Mayee, AOR
Mr. Raj Kamal, AOR
Maharashtra Mr. Rahul Chitnis, Adv.
Mr. Sachin Patil, AOR
Mr. Aaditya A. Pande, Adv.
Mr. Geo Joseph, Adv.
Manipur Mr. Pukhrambam Ramesh Kumar, AOR
Ms. Anupama Ng., Adv.
Mr. Karun Sharma, Adv.
Meghalaya Mr. Avijit Mani Tripathi, AOR
Ms. T.K. Nayak, Adv.
Mizoram Mr. Siddhesh Kotwal, Adv.
Ms. Bansuri Swaraj, Adv.
Mr. Divyansh Tiwari, Adv.
Ms. Ana Upadhyay, Adv.
MR. Nirnimesh Dube, AOR
Mr. Som Raj Choudhury, AOR
Tamil Nadu Mr. Jayanth Muth Raj, Sr. Adv. AAG
Mr. Yogesh Kanna, AOR
Mr. RajaRajeshwaran S., Adv.
Mr. Aditya Chadha, Adv.
Mr. Uma Prasuna Bachu, Adv.
Telangana Mr. S. Udaya Kumar Sagar, AOR
Ms. Sweena Nair, Adv.
GNCTD Mr. Chirag M. Shroff, AOR
Ms. Abhilasha Bharti, Adv.
Mr. Sushant Dogra, Adv.
Puducherry Mr. V.G. Pragasam, AOR
Mr. S. Prabhu Ramasubramanian, Adv.
Nagaland Ms. K Enatoli Sema, Adv.
Mr. Amit Kumar Singh, Adv.
Mr. Apratim Aniesh Thakur, Adv.
Ms. Prachi Hasija, Adv.
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Uttar Pradesh Mr. Pradeep Misra, Adv.
Mr. Suraj Singh, Adv.
UT/Andaman & Mr. K.V. Jagdishvaran, Adv.
Nicobar Islands Mrs. G. Indira, AOR
Kerala Mr. Jishnu M.L., Adv.
Ms. Priyanka Prakash, Adv.
Ms. Beena Prakash, Adv.
Mr. G. Prakash, AOR
Goa Mr. Ravindra A. Lokhande, Adv.
Dr. Abhishek Atrey, AOR
Ms. Ambika Atrey, Adv.
Tripura Mr. Shuvodeep Roy, Adv.
Mr. Kabir Shankar Bose, Adv.
GNCTD Mr. Chirag M Shroff, Adv.
Ms. Abhilasha Bharti, Adv.
Mr. Sushant Dogra, Adv.
Haryana Dr. Monika Gusain, AOR
Andhra Pradesh Mr. Mahfooz Ahsan Nazki, AOR
Ms. Polanki Gowtham, Adv.
Mr. Shaik Mohamad Haneef, Adv.
Mr. T. Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy, Adv.
Mr. Amitabh Sinha, Adv.
Mr Shrey Sharma, Adv.
Rajasthan Mr. Vishal Meghwal, Adv.
Mr. Milind Kumar, AOR
West Bengal Mr. Soumitra G. Chaudhuri, Adv.
Mr. Chanchal Kumar Ganguli, Adv.
Puducherry Mr. V.G. Pragasam, Adv.
Mr. S. Prabhu Ramasubramanian, Adv.
Assam Mr. Nalin Kohli, AAG/Adv.
Mr. Shuvodeep Roy.AOR
Mr. Rahul Raj Mishra, Adv.
Mr. Ankit Roy, Adv.
Arunachal Pradesh Mr. Abhimanyu Tewari, AOR
Ms. Eliza Bar, Adv.
Karnataka Mr. V.N. Raghupathy, AOR
Mr. Md. Apzal Ansari, Adv.
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HP Mr. Manish Kumar, Adv.
Mr. Satish Kumar, AOR
UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following
O R D E R
We must notice at the inception that considerable work has occurred on account of the inter se discussion between the stakeholders, coordinated by Mr. Jayant K. Sud, learned ASG. we do appreciate the positive attitude of all the stakeholders to streamline the process.
It is now agreed as per table I of the note submitted by learned ASG that the following agreed directions can be issued:
A. Accident Information Report-
The jurisdictional police station shall report the accident under Section 158(6) of the Act(Section 159 post 2019 amendment) (hereinatfer “the report”) to the tribunal and insurer within first 48 hours either over email or a dedicated website.
B. Detailed Accident Report-
Police shall collect the documents relevant to the accident and for computation of compensation and shall verify the information and documents. These documents shall form part of the Report. It shall email the Report to the tribunal and the insurer within three months. Similarly the claimants may also be permitted to email the application for compensation with supporting documents, under Section 166 to the tribunal and the insurer within the same time.
C. The tribunal shall issue summons 5 along with the Report or the application for compensation, as the case may be, to the insurer by email.
D. The insurer shall email their offer for settlement/response to the Report or the application for claim to the tribunal along with proof of service on the claimants.
E. After passing the award, the tribunal shall email an authenticated copy of the award to the insurer.
F. The insurer shall satisfy the award by depositing the awarded amount into a bank account maintained by the tribunal by RTGS or NEFT. For this purpose the tribunal shall maintain a bank account and record the relevant account details along with the directions for payment to the insurer in the award itself.
G. Each tribunal shall create an email ID peculiar to its jurisdiction for receiving the emails from the police and the insurer as mentioned above. Similarly, all insurer throughout India shall also create an email ID peculiar to the jurisdiction of each claim tribunal. These email IDs would be prominently displayed at tribunal, the police stations and the office of the insurers for the benefit of the claimants. Similarly, these email IDS shall also be prominently displayed on the website maintained by the tribunal and the insurer.
H. Insurers shall appoint nodal officers for each tribunal and provide their contact details, phone and mobile phone numbers, and email address to Director Generals of State Police and the tribunals.
We direct that the aforesaid directions will apply across the country so that a uniform practice is followed.
There are two other aspects which have been 6 noted as under:
(I) Tamil Nadu and NCT of Delhi have already progressed from having email accounts for submission of accident reports by the police to the tribunal and the insurer, to operating an online platform/website for submission of accident report under Section 159. These online platform/websites shall be suitably be modified for submission of claimants’ application for compensation under Section 166 of the Act as well insurers’ response to the accident report or the claim petition as the case may be.
(J) Each State having an independent online platform for submission of accident reports, claims and responses to claims, will hamper efficient adjudication of claims, especially where the victim of the accident is not a resident of State where accident has occurred. Therefore, Central Government shall develop an online platform accessible to the tribunals, police authorities and insurers throughout India. In respect of the aforesaid matters, learned ASG states that some more time may be required to work out the time period within which they can be implemented and the necessary infrastructure for the same created for which some more discussions are required.
We are of the view that both (I) and (J) also liable to be implemented across the country but in pursuance to the discussions brought before us, we will specify the time period within which (I) and (J) have to be implemented.
List for further directions on 4th May, 2021. Learned senior counsel for the petitioners Ms. Meenakshi Arora submis that inadvertently while handing 7 over the presences on 24.02.2021, the name of Mr. Jagdish Solanki was included, who is Manager (Legal) and not an Advocate. She submits that since Mr. Solanki has surrendered his Sanad, this mistake may cause some problem for him. She assures us that in future while giving presences due care will be taken. The presence in the order dated 24.02.2021 stands modified to the extent that the name of Mr. Jagdish Solanki stands deleted from that order.
[CHARANJEET KAUR] [POONAM VAID] ASTT. REGISTRAR-cum-PS COURT MASTER (NSH)