The Supreme Court’s scathing rebuke of the Central Government over its delay in implementing a cashless treatment scheme for motor accident victims shines a harsh light on a recurring flaw in public policy execution-bureaucratic inertia in the face of life-saving reforms. The court’s stern directive, summoning the Secretary of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to explain the non-compliance, underscores the gravity of the lapse and its potential human cost. Section 162(2) of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, mandates a scheme for cashless treatment during the “golden hour”-the crucial one-hour period post-accident when timely medical intervention can mean the difference between life and death. The Supreme Court had rightly set a March 15 deadline, emphasising the urgency. Yet, the Centre’s failure to comply, citing vaguely defined “bottlenecks”, amounts to more than administrative delay-it reflects a disregard for the very lives the legislation seeks to protect.
The golden hour is not a legal abstraction; it is a medical reality. Thousands of lives are lost annually in road accidents in India, and many of those deaths are preventable with prompt medical attention. The envisioned cashless scheme aims to eliminate delays caused by procedural formalities and financial hesitations, enabling hospitals to begin treatment immediately without waiting for payment guarantees. Its absence perpetuates a cruel system where accident victims are often turned away due to an inability to pay upfront. What makes the situation more troubling is that the proposed scheme is not a new legislative endeavour but an implementation of an already existing law. The Centre’s reluctance to act promptly on its statute erodes public trust and calls into question the seriousness with which it approaches citizen welfare. The apex court’s warning of contempt action and its insistence on personal accountability are, therefore, not merely procedural-they are moral assertions. When lives are at stake, governance cannot afford complacency. Swift finalisation and rollout of the cashless treatment scheme is not just a legal mandate-it is a humanitarian imperative. The court has spoken; now it is time for the executive to act.
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