NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday rapped the Centre over the delay in formulating a cashless medical treatment scheme for motor accident victims and summoned the secretary of the Ministry of Road Transport for an explanation.A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan took objection that despite its January 8 order, the Centre did not comply with it.”The time granted has expired on March 15, 2025. This is a serious breach and violation of not only orders of this court but a violation of implementing a very beneficial legislation. We direct the secretary, ministry of road transport and highways to appear on video-conferencing and explain why the directions of this court were not complied with,” the bench said.Only when top government officers are summoned here they take the orders of the court seriously, it added.Additional solicitor general Vikramjeet Banerjee, appearing for the Centre, said there were “bottle necks”.The bench, however, remarked, “This is your own legislation, people are loosing lives, because there is no facility for cashless treatment. This is for the benefit of common people. We are putting you to notice, we’ll take action under contempt. Ask your secretary to come and explain.” The official was directed by the top court to appear on April 28 for the explanation.The bench also directed the secretary of transport department to issue instructions in writing to all district magistrates to upload the claims of hidden hit-and-run cases on the General Insurance Council (GIC) portal.On January 8, the top court directed the Centre to formulate the scheme for the cashless medical treatment of motor accident victims in the “golden hour” period mandated under the law.It had referred to Section 162(2) of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, and ordered the government to provide by March 14 the scheme which could save numerous lives with prompt medical care to accident victims.The golden hour, defined under Section 2 (12-A) of the Act, refers to a one-hour window following a traumatic injury under which a timely medical intervention will most likely prevent death.The court had underscored the importance of providing immediate medical care during the critical period and said delays caused by financial concerns or procedural hurdles often cost lives.
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