NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it was very disturbing to find that so many successful claimants have been deprived of compensation under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 and Workmen's Compensation Act, 1923, as since a huge sum of money was found as lying unclaimed.
The apex court directed the motor accident claims tribunals and labour courts to directly credit the compensation amount to claimants' bank accounts
"The issue arising in this suo motu petition is of great concern. The amounts represent the compensation granted to claimants in the claims filed under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 and Workmen's Compensation Act, 1923. Though the claimants are held entitled to these amounts, they have not withdrawn the same," a bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan said.
In slew of directions to ensure that the compensation is paid to claimants, the bench said that when motor accident claims tribunals pass an order of deposit of compensation amounts with them, direction should be given to invest those amounts in fixed deposit with any nationalised bank and the same to be renewed till further instructions.
The court said it was not clear how many States have framed rules under Section 176 of the Motor Vehicles Act regarding the filing of applications before the tribunals. Till such rules are framed, the court directed the high courts to frame practice directions.
It found that a whopping sum of over Rs 282 crores was lying unclaimed in the MACTs and about Rs 6.61 crores in the labour courts in Gujarat. The figure was approximately Rs 239 crores in the MACTs and Rs 92 crores in the Labour Courts in Uttar Pradesh. Likewise, the amounts unclaimed in the MACTS in West Bengal were Rs 2.5 crores, Rs 4.59 crores in Maharashtra and Rs 3.61 Crores in Goa.
Acting on an email received from B B Pathak, a retired District Judge from Gujarat, the Court had initiated a suo motu case in 2024.
The case was registered as In Re: compensation amounts deposited with Motor Accidents Claims Tribunals and Labour Courts.
In its directions, the court said that while passing an interim or final order of grant of compensation, the MACTs shall call upon the person or persons held entitled to receive compensation to produce their bank account details. The high courts have been asked to create a dashboard on which the information regarding compensation amounts should be regularly updated.
"All the High Courts shall issue administrative directions to the MAC Tribunals and Commissioners under the 1923 Act to initiate a massive drive to ascertain the whereabouts of the persons who have been held to be entitled to receive compensation, but have not taken the same. This shall be done by taking the assistance of the District and Taluka Legal Services Authorities and para-legal volunteers," the bench said.
The court directed the High Courts to take up implementation of the directions at the earliest and submit compliance reports to this Court on or before July 30, 2025, so that further directions, if necessary, can be issued. The Registrar Generals, in their report, would set out the details of the amounts still lying without disbursement, the bench said.
"We make it clear that all the High Courts are free to take measures in addition to what is directed under this order to ensure that the pending amounts reach the claimants," the bench said, scheduling the matter for reporting compliance on August 18, 2025.
