SUPREME COURT ISSUES IMPORTANT DIRECTIONS REGARDING ROAD VICTIMS

Taking serious note of loopholes in the mechanism of payment of compensation to the victims of road accidents, the Supreme Court has issued directions to ensure prompt and adequate disbursement of compensation. Taking note of the plight of the victims of road accidents such as hit and run cases, the Supreme Court has directed the Director General of police of all the states and union territories to issue directions to all SHO to provide within 30 days the copies of FIR and the details of the victim l ike name, age and monthly income to the concerned accident tribunal within 30 days of the accident. This direction must be complied with latest by April 30. A bench comprising Mr Justice R V Raveendran, Mr Justice Mukundakam Sharma and  Mr Justice K S Radhakrishnan also directed that the details of medical report such as injury, post-mortem report be made available to the Motor Accident Claim Tribunal (MACT) latest by  August 2010. The entire record should be sent to the concerned insurance company for processing and this direction should be complied with by all the states and the Union government latest by the end of this year. Suggestions made by the apex court include levy of road safety tax on all the vehicles sold and imposition of cess/surcharge on petrol and diesel to collect funds for payment of compensation  to the victims of such accidents. Third party insurance premium which will cover all  gratuitous passengers travelling in goods vehicles and private vehicles should be collected  by central insurance agencies. The court has also suggested immediate payment of compensation to the accident  victims including hit and run cases.The apex court has also suggested that safe cess amount  and third party insurance premium amount collected by the government should be utilised  for such payments. The amount of compensation in hit and run cases should be increased as  these accidents constitute 20 percent of the total mishap in the country.  Justice Raveendran, writing the 25 page judgement for the bench, also suggested that owner  of the vehicle involved in the accident should be directed to deposit an adequate amount as pre-condition  for release of the vehicle. The apex court has suggested to the government to make suitable amendments to the II-schedule of the Motor Vehicle Act 1988 and also to section 158 (6) of the Act at the earliest. The court also took note of the fact that road accidents in India were highest in the world and the delay in paying compensation the longest.

Court restrains BPSC from publishing PT results

News Desk - December 24, 2009

PATNA — The Patna High Court has restrained the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) from publishing the results of Judicial Service Competition Preliminary Test (PT).
The court said that the Commission can conduct the examination according to preset program (December 30) but only after getting permission from the court it can publish the result.
A division bench of Chief Justice Deepak Misra and Justice Shivkirti Singh on Wednesday delivered the judgment after hearing on a petition filed by Dayanand Singh. The applicant through his lawyer Chakrapani challenged the Bihar government’s decision to extend the benefits of reservation in the judicial services to Other Backward Castes (OBCs).
In June this year, the Nitish Kumar government had extended reservation benefits to the backward castes in state judicial services conducted by the BPSC. As per the state government’s decision there will be 49.5% (BC- 27%, SC/ST – 22.5%) reservation in junior and special category posts in the judicial services.
The petitioner argued that a similar attempt was turned down by the Supreme Court which asked the then state government to prepare a detailed guideline and submit the same to the Patna High Court which too rejected the government’s proposals.
The matter will come up for final hearing on January 19. The court has also directed the state government to file counter-affidavit before January 15.
(With inputs from Agencies)

SC shifts 7 cases against Raj Thackeray to a Delhi court

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday transferred to a Delhi court seven cases registered against Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray in Bihar and Jharkhand for his alleged hate speeches against north Indians.

Cases against Thackeray were registered for his alleged inflammatory speeches from January 2008.

A bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and B S Chauhan decided to transfer all proceedings relating to those cases to a Tis Hazari court after the counsel of all the parties consented to it. 

Out of the seven cases, five were registered in Jharkhand and two in Bihar by different individuals.

Thackeray had sought transfer of all the cases to one place.

PTI 

Delhi HC issues notice to N D Tiwari on paternity suit

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Friday issued notice to veteran politician and former Andhra Pradesh Governor N D Tiwari on a paternity suit 

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filed by a youth claiming to be his biological son.

A Bench headed by Chief Justice A P Shah asked Tiwari to give his response by February 9 on the suit filed by Rohit Shekhar, 30, seeking its direction to declare Tiwari is his biological father. 

Shekhar filed an appeal before a Division Bench challenging a single-bench order which had dismissed his petition on the ground that it was not maintainable.

Justice S N Dhingra had on November 3 last said the suit filed by Shekhar is not maintainable and allowed the plea of 84-year-old Tiwari who had sought dismissal of the petition.

The Court had said that it did not have the territorial jurisdiction to hear the case as Tiwari, then Andhra Pradesh Governor, was in Hyderabad and a suit against him could be filed only in that city.

The appeal comes within days of Tiwari resigning as Governor in the wake of a sex scandal with a news channel purportedly showing him in a compromising position with three women. Tiwari has dismissed the allegation as "baseless".

A law graduate, Shekhar, 30, filed the suit claiming he was born out of an intimate relationship between his mother Ujjwala Sharma and Tiwari, a charge denied by the latter. 

Tiwari was earlier directed by the court in November 2008 to file his reply in which he had refuted all the allegations and submitted that the suit was filed to malign him.