In the hilly State of Jammu and Kashmir, motor accidents on main and link roads, are a common feature. Many precious lives are lost in these accidents. There is hardly a week when the news of a motor road accident does not come in. There are some protests and also expression of anger against the Traffic Department. However, soon the noise dies down and the tragedy is forgotten. Sometimes Government announces some compensation for the victims or the family of the victims by way of relief. What is the criterion of fixing the relief is not known nor set forth in official books. Generally speaking, the quantum of compensation is governed by the discretion of the sanctioning authority. In a historical judgment of the Supreme Court of India in a case of compensation for road accident, the question of compensation has been interpreted in widest and deepest dimensions. Focusing on the quantum of compensation, it says that the compensation should, “neither be a bonanza nor a windfall; simultaneously, it should not be a pittance.” Touching the core of the issue, the Supreme Court says that apart from physical infirmity inflicted upon a victim of road accident, it is the mental trauma which remains there and makes him suffer terribly. How will that discrepancy be compensated have also to be taken into account? The Supreme Court has touched upon a crucial point. Relief granting authority has to take into consideration how much loss the injured person suffers in life in terms of earning and work and social relationship. It has also to consider how much the family suffers owing to the disability inflicted on the earning hand. The fact is that it is difficult for any granting authority to determine the precise quantum of compensation.
Applying the philosophy of verdict to the road accident cases in Jammu and Kashmir, it is expected that the Government of Jammu and Kashmir will devise a methodology of making assessment of compensation that should be paid to the victim or the kith of the victim of road accidents. The status of the victim’s family, its financial position and the pain which the family will be suffering owing to the loss of income and other related things will have to be taken into account. The Traffic Department may have to constitute a committee to discuss in detail the implications of the verdict of the Apex Court. A close study of the verdict shows that the court has laid down the guidelines along which rules for complications will have to be scripted. Obviously, there remains no scope for making arbitrary decision on the quantum of compensation. It also dispenses with the option of any authority declaring a particular amount of compensation on or off the spot.
So many road accidents have been happening in the State on National Highway and link roads. Every time, the Traffic Department says that an enquiry is ordered into the causes of the accident. Very seldom an enquiry repot is made public. The press and the civil society cry at the top of their voice that accidents usually happen owing to the negligence of the official functionaries. However, notwithstanding this sordid saga, there is not cognizable improvement in checking road accidents. People are now forced to say that the concerned department has become immune to the public cry. This system has to change and if authorities feel that the structure is incorrigible, they will have to devise stringent measures.
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