"Supreme Court issues binding directions to enforce mandatory motor vehicle insurance"
Third-party insurance
statutory cover under Section 146, MV Act, protecting persons other than the vehicle owner from accident liability
Article 142
constitutional provision empowering the Supreme Court to pass any order necessary to do complete justice in a pending matter
Road safety governance in India draws its legislative authority from the Concurrent List (List III, Seventh Schedule) of the Constitution, enabling both Parliament and state legislatures to legislate, with central law prevailing in case of conflict. The foundational statute is the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, substantially overhauled by the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019, which raised traffic-violation penalties, introduced cashless treatment during the golden hour after accidents, and provided for a National Road Safety Board. India records over 1.5 lakh road fatalities annually, making it one of the worst performers globally on this metric.
Third-party motor insurance — compulsory under Section 146 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 — protects accident victims against the financial negligence of vehicle owners or drivers. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) regulates the insurance sector, the Insurance Information Bureau of India (IIB) maintains a centralised policy database, and the VAHAN portal (managed by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, MoRTH) holds vehicle registration data. Despite this institutional architecture, enforcement has remained structurally weak, leaving a large share of vehicles uninsured and accident victims without timely compensation.
The Supreme Court had previously intervened in its 2018 judgment in S. Rajaseekaran v. Union of India, directing that purchasers of new vehicles must obtain three-year third-party insurance for cars and five-year cover for two-wheelers at the point of purchase or registration. That direction was itself a judicial response to an enforcement deficit the executive had failed to address through routine regulatory action — a pattern that has now recurred, prompting the court's latest, more expansive intervention.
Third-party motor insurance is a statutory requirement, not a contractual choice. Section 146 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 prohibits any person from using a motor vehicle in a public place unless a policy of insurance covering third-party liability is in force. The distinction between third-party and own-damage cover is critical: third-party insurance compensates others — persons injured, killed, or whose property is damaged by the insured vehicle — while own-damage or comprehensive policies additionally cover the vehicle owner's own losses. The mandatory element is exclusively the third-party component.
Motor Accident Claims Tribunals (MACTs) are specialised quasi-judicial bodies established under the Motor Vehicles Act to adjudicate compensation claims arising from road accidents. They are intended to provide faster, less adversarial relief than ordinary civil courts. …
A legislation which confers on the executive or administrative authority an unguided and uncontrolled discretionary power in the matter of application of law violates which one of the following Articles of the Constitution of India?
With reference to motor insurance in India, consider the following statements:
1.Section 146 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 makes third-party insurance mandatory for all vehicles used in a public place.
2.Third-party insurance covers damage to the insured vehicle owner's own vehicle.
3.Motor Accident Claims Tribunals (MACTs) are established under the Motor Vehicles Act to adjudicate road accident compensation claims.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
The Supreme Court recently extended the mandatory third-party insurance cover period for new vehicles. Which of the following correctly states the revised periods?
Assertion (A): The Supreme Court can issue binding directions to regulatory bodies such as IRDAI and to state police forces even in cases where the immediate dispute is between private parties.
Reason (R): Article 142 of the Constitution empowers the Supreme Court to pass any order necessary to do complete justice in any cause or matter pending before it.
Which of the following is correct?
Consider the following institutions and their roles in India's motor insurance enforcement framework:
1.VAHAN portal — maintains a centralised database of all registered vehicles
2.Insurance Information Bureau (IIB) — regulates premium rates for motor insurance policies
3.ANPR cameras — can be integrated with insurance databases to issue automatic e-challans
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
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