New Delhi, Apr 22 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Tuesday found it “disturbing” that road accident victims were deprived of compensation despite orders of the Motor Accident Claims Tribunals.

Issuing a slew of directions, a bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan said while filing claim petitions under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, names and addresses of the injured or the owners of the damaged property; their Aadhaar and PAN details and email id, should be submitted.

“If the aforesaid details are not furnished, the registration of the application should not be refused on that ground, but MAC tribunals at the time of issuing notice may direct the applicant(s) to furnish the information and make the issue of the notice subject to making compliance,” it said.

While passing an interim or final order of grant of compensation, the bench said, the MACTs should order those entitled to receive compensation to produce their bank account details along with either a certificate of the banker furnishing all details, including IFS code, or a copy of a cancelled cheque of the bank account.

The claimants would have to produce the documents within a specified reasonable time, it added.

The apex court’s order came on a suo motu petition over large sums of money lying deposited in MACT and labour courts.

The bench said further directions would be issued to the persons entitled to receive compensation to keep updating information on the bank accounts, email id, in case of changes.

“In the event a consent award or consent order is made, the MAC Tribunals may direct the deposit of the compensation amount ordered to be released to the claimants directly to the bank accounts of the persons held entitled to receive compensation,” the order said.

The top court clarified the consent terms must contain all relevant account details of the persons entitled to compensation.

“The account details can also be incorporated in the order passed for the disbursement of the amount on the basis of a compromise between the parties,” the bench said.

The bench entrusted the responsibility on MACT judges to verify from the certificate issued by the banker and ascertain whether those entitled to receive compensation were genuine bank account holders.

“The MACTs, while passing orders of withdrawal/disbursement, shall, in the ordinary course, pass an order of transfer of the requisite amounts directly to the bank account of the person/s entitled to receive compensation as per the account details furnished,” it said.

In case of a “long gap” between the date of furnishing the account details and the date of filing application for withdrawal of the amount, the tribunal would get fresh account details of the claimants, the bench added.

The top court further directed creating a dashboard which will have information on the deposited amount of compensation granted under 1988 or 1923 Acts which will be regularly uploaded with details.

All the high courts should issue administrative directions to the MACT and commissioners 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, the court directed.

“The state governments shall provide assistance to the legal services authorities of the local police officers/revenue officers of the district and taluka to trace the claimants who are held entitled to receive compensation,” the bench said.

The state authorities will monitor compliance with the issued directions and report compliance within four months from today, it added. PTI PKS PKS AMK AMK