40 pc of vehicles plying on roads not insured

Agra May 17 : Can you believe 40 per cent of the vehicles running on Indian roads are without mandatory Insurance cover?

This information was revealed by the Central Government in a Supreme Court petition, highlighting the issue of uninsured vehicles in road accidents.

According to the Central Government's disclosure in the court case, only around 60 per cent of vehicles have third-party insurance coverage based on e-Detailed Accident Report (e-DAR) data.

Consequently, in the event of an accident involving one of these uninsured vehicles, individuals are unable to claim insurance payouts and must pursue compensation by legal means from the vehicle owners, which can be a challenging process.

Senior Supreme Court advocate KC Jain who has petitioned the apex court on this issue has called for the implementation of e-challans for vehicles without insurance on the roads, stating that 40 per cent of vehicles are currently uninsured.

In his writ petition No. 202442 of 2023, Jain has asked for electronic monitoring of vehicles for compliance with traffic rules as per Section 136A of the Motor Vehicles Act, in which he has demanded that whenever a vehicle is checked through electronic cameras, it should automatically be known whether it has third party insurance or not and if it is not insured then it should be challenged.

"The data available with the Transport Ministry also includes data on uninsured vehicles too, and the period it's valid or expired. Through electronic monitoring, those vehicles which are not insured can be easily challenged," Jain said.

Jain said that according to Section 146 of the Motor Vehicles Act, "every vehicle must get third party insurance and if a vehicle owner does not get third party insurance of his vehicle, then he is committing a punishable offense under Section 196 of the Act.

For the first offense, imprisonment up to three months or a fine up to Rs 2,000 or both can be imposed and if this offence is committed again, then imprisonment up to 3 months or a fine up to Rs 5000 or both can be imposed. Despite these provisions, vehicle owners are running their vehicles on the roads without third-party insurance."

An amount of Rs 38,046 crore was received by general insurance companies from vehicle owners as third-party premium in the year 2018-19, which increased to Rs 49,508 crore in the year 2022-23 and to about Rs 50,000 crore in the financial year 2023-24. Despite this, 40 percent of the vehicles are running on the roads without insurance.

The issue of vehicles running without insurance was also raised in the Lok Sabha, about which the Finance Minister, while answering Unstarred Question No. 3211 on March 20, 2023, said that excluding Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, and Lakshadweep, the number of vehicles is approximately 30.48 crore. Of them, 16.54 crore vehicles are running without insurance, Jain said.

The Supreme Court Road Safety Committee has also expressed concern over this matter and in its meeting dated March 26, 2018, said that 66 per cent of the vehicles are plying on the roads without third-party insurance due to which the heirs of the persons deceased in accidents are not able to get compensation.

Jain said that if the Supreme Court orders challan of vehicles without insurance through electronic monitoring, then the heirs of the deceased and the injured in road accidents will get a big relief. The next date of hearing in the apex court is July 11.