‘No vehicle insurance, no fuel’: Supreme Court asks Centre to launch pilot project
‘No vehicle insurance, no fuel’: Supreme Court asks Centre to launch pilot project
56% of all vehicles plying on Indian roads do not have valid insurance, court says it’s ‘shocking’
56% have no insurance
THE SUPREME Court on Tuesday said it is “shocked” to learn that nearly
- 56% of all vehicles plying on Indian roads do not have valid insurance,
- and asked the government to plan a pilot project to link fuel for vehicles at petrol pumps with their insurance status.
direction should “be enforced by ?
A bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and P K Mishra said the direction should “be enforced through the
- Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH)
- and IRDA (Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India).
Section 146 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988
The court was hearing an appeal which flagged lack of compliance with Section 146 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, which requires all vehicles to have a valid insurance policy covering third parties.
uniform motor vehicle policy structure
The bench also considered whether there should be a uniform motor vehicle policy structure
- covering all occupants of a vehicle,
- in addition to the statutorily mandated coverage of third-party risks.
Justice Karol said:
fuel for vehicles to be linked with valid insurance status. In the absence thereof, the vehicle concerned would be refused fuel at petrol pumps until such time that valid insurance is obtained.”
court said “the benefit therein is two-fold” —
it will assist in
- identification of uninsured or unregistered vehicles
- and also prompt the owners of these vehicles to ensure that they have valid insurance status.
(Automatic Number Plate Recognition) cameras
The bench said this may be done through the use of ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) cameras
and noted that “the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has, in principle, no objection to the same”.
a pilot project be implemented
allowing citizens to verify insurance status, and ultimately assist in the implementation of the statutory mandate under the MV Act”.
The bench said this will allow citizens
to know whether the vehicle they are travelling in or sending goods in or transporting employees
- has valid insurance
- also allow for prompt reporting of uninsured vehicles.
2018 mandating purchase of third-party insurance
The bench noted that though it had issued directions in July 2018 mandating purchase of third-party insurance for
- 3 years for new cars
- 5 years for two wheelers at the time of purchase/registration of new vehicles,
inhance the insurance period
The court said it is “in the interest of road safety that the period be enhanced by one year” and “directed that henceforth,
- third-party insurance for four years for new cars
- six years for new two-wheelers be required to be purchased”.
- It asked IRDA to immediately issue necessary directions.
- मल्होत्रा समिति (1993-94): आरबीआई के पूर्व गवर्नर आर.एन. मल्होत्रा की अध्यक्षता वाली समिति ने बीमा क्षेत्र को निजी कंपनियों के लिए खोलने और एक स्वतंत्र नियामक निकाय बनाने की सिफारिश की थी।
- वैधानिक दर्जा (Statutory Status): इसकी स्थापना IRDA अधिनियम, 1999 के तहत एक वैधानिक और स्वायत्त निकाय के रूप में की गई थी। इसने वर्ष 2000 से काम करना शुरू किया।
- मुख्यालय: इसका मुख्यालय हैदराबाद (तेलंगाना) में है (शुरुआत में यह दिल्ली में था, जिसे 2001 में स्थानांतरित किया गया)।
- मंत्रालय: यह वित्त मंत्रालय (Ministry of Finance) के तहत कार्य करता है।
Report of the Standing Committee on Finance 2024–25
The bench said: “It is shocking to learn that nearly 56% of vehicles plying on Indian roads remain uninsured as per the Report of the Standing Committee on Finance 2024–25,
titled ‘Action taken by the Government on the Observations/Recommendations contained in Sixty Sixth Report on the subject – Performance Review and Regulation of Insurance Sector’, dated December 2024.
In absolute terms, the stark figure of uninsured vehicles stands at 16.54 crore vehicles out of 30.48 crore vehicles.”
The consequent effect
is that the statutory safeguard of victim compensation is often delayed, if not defeated.
The object behind mandatory insurance under Section 146 of the MVA is not just that victims of
- road accidents are compensated;
- it is also that they are not drawn into prolonged litigation,” the court said.
IF not have valid or active registration
“This is further more complex if vehicles not have valid or active registration.
Therein, the process of
- tracing the identity of the driver/owner involved in the accident becomes improbable
- and time-consuming.
The court said that “currently, ANPR cameras deployed
on highways and roads are equipped with a mechanism to catch and penalise road safety violations such as high speed, red light jumping, driving on the wrong side of the road etc.
Carrying this forward and as already deployed by the MoRTH in certain states, ANPR cameras are to be integrated with data from the
- Insurance Information Bureau (established under IRDA)
- VAHAN portal for issuance of automatic e-challans to uninsured vehicles,
- in furtherance of the SOP for Electronic Monitoring and Enforcement of Road Safety.”
there is no uniform mechanism for police
to verify insurance status on the ground” and directed that the “state police be provided with
- handheld devices
- downloadable apps,
- linked with the data from Insurance Information Bureau (established under IRDA) and VAHAN portal…
- to monitor real-time insurance status of vehicles and impose challans for violations, ensuring compliance with mandatory insurance on the ground”.
add-on options in third party scheme
The court also said that third-party policy for private vehicles be provided with add-on options like
- “additional optional cover for the occupant(s)/pillion rider”,
- “personal accident cover for the owner, driver and any occupant(s)/pillion rider”
- and “own damage cover (for loss or damage to the insured vehicle itself)”.
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