Madras High Court directive to DGP

Chennai: With a view to enable the motor accident victims to get compensation early, the Madras high court has directed the Director General of Police of Tamil Nadu to issue circulars through out the state within 3 months, directing the investigating officers in the state to file Detailed Accident Reports (DAR) before both the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal and the jurisdictional Magistrates along with the final reports for the purpose of deciding the just compensation.

Justice P.N.Prakash gave the directive on a petition filed by Cholamandalam MS General Insurance Company Limited and posted the matter to January 5, 2017 for reporting compliance.

The judge said on the suggestion made by this court, N.Vijayaraghavan, counsel for the petitioner, who is having longstanding and rich experience in the field, has consented to assist the authorities to frame necessary circulars to be issued through out the state for implementation of the directions of the Supreme Court.

In its petition, the Insurance Company sought a direction to the police to investigate two false motor accident claims in Cuddalore district and take appropriate action.

During the course of hearing, the petitioner brought to the notice of the court an order of the Supreme Court dated May 13, 2016, which directed implementation of a procedure called DAR.

Taking note of the same, the judge said now, it was for the DGP of Tamil Nadu, to issue necessary circulars throughout the state, directing the investigating officers to file DAR before both the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal and the jurisdictional Magistrates along with the final report for the purpose of deciding just compensation under section 357 (A) of Cr.P.C read with Tamil Nadu Victims Compensation Scheme.

As per the DAR procedure, the police shall immediately upon occurrence of a motor accident register FIR immediately, identify the victim, the vehicle, owner of vehicle, driver of the same, obtain the vehicular records such as RC, driving license, permit and  insurance policy, collect the injury or death records of the victims from the motor accident, then compile a Comprehensive Report of all the details with all authenticated documents/records of the victim’s claim.

File the said report before the concerned Motor Accidents Claim Tribunal, within whose jurisdiction the accident occurred to enable the Tribunals to issue notices to the victims/claimants of motor accidents, owners of motor vehicles, drivers and insurance companies or transport corporations and then expeditiously assess compensation on the basis of the collected evidence.

The police shall also file the DAR before the Magistrate courts where the criminal trial about the motor accident takes place so that the Magistrate can fix compensation to the victims from and out of Tamil Nadu Victim Compensation Scheme.