LexGENERAL INSURANCE COUNCIL AND ORS. versus STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH AND ORS.
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GENERAL INSURANCE COUNCIL AND ORS.
v.
STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH AND ORS.
JULY 9, 2007
[DR. ARIJIT PASA YAT AND P.P. NAOLEKAR, JJ.]
Motor Vehicles Act, 1988-s. 158 (6)---Compliance of the provision-
' Held: Since the compliance of the provision is mandatory, it should be
C followed-Direction to the State Governments and Union Territories to direct
the concerned police officials to comply with the requirement of the provision-
On non-compliance of the direction, action to be taken against erring
officials---Centraf Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989-Rule 150 and Form 54.
Words and Phrases-'As soon as'-Meaning of the expression-In the
D context of s. 158 (6) of Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.
The Writ Petition was filed before this Court seeking direction to State
Governments and Union Territories to ensure that the mandate of Section
158 (6) of Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 is complied with without exception.
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Disposing of the Writ Petition, the Court
HELD: I. The language used in sub-section (6) of Section 158 of Motor
Vehicles Act, 1988 mandates the police officer to forward a copy of the report
to the ClaimsTribunal having jurisdiction and to the concerned insurance
company "as soon as any information regarding any accident involving death
F or bodily injury is recorded or a report under Section 158 is completed by
the police officer." Use of the expression 'as soon as' implies that there has
to be promptitude in action. To do a thing 'as soon as possible' means to do it
within a reasonable time, with an understanding to do it within the shortest
possible time. 'As and when' and 'as soon as' are almost synonymous.
G Whenever these expressions are used in respect of time and place, they denote
contemporaneous notion. 'As soon as' and 'forthwith' both are to be normally
understood as allowing reasonable time, but latter is more peremptory than
the former. But urgency is the hallmark of both expressions. Expression 'as
soon as' may be stretched to mean 'as soon as' practicable. It has to be '
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GENERALINSURANCECOUNCILv. STATEOFANDHRA PRADESH[PASAYAT,J.] 193
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forwarded with promptitude.
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!Paras 7 and 811196-G; 197-A, Bl
King's Old County Ltd. v. Liquid Carbonic Can. Corporation Ltd. (1942)
2 WWR 603, referred to.
2. If action in terms of Section 158 (6) is taken, it will rule out filing of B
false claim petitions and the job of the Claims Tribunals will become easier.
tpara 611196-AI
3. Since there is a mandatory requirement to act in the manner provided
in Section 158(6), there is no justifiable reason as to why the requirement is
not being followed. It is, therefore, directed that all the State Governments C
and the Union Territories shall instruct, if not already done, all concerned
police officers about the need to comply with the requirement of Section 158(6)
keeping in view the requiremeqt indicated in Rule 150 and in Form 54.
Periodical checking shall be done by the Inspector General of Police concerned
to ensure that the requirements are being complied with. In case there is D
non-compliance, appropriate action shall be taken against the erring officials.
The Department of Transport and Highway shall make periodical verification
to ensure that action is being taken and in case of any deviation immediately
bring the same to the notice of the concerned State Government/Union
Territories so that necessary action can be taken against the concerned
officials. !Paras 9 and IOI (197-C, D, El
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CIVIL ORIGINAL JURISDICTION : Writ Petition (C) No. 282 of2007.
G.E. Vahanvati, SG. Vishnu Mehra, Sakshi Mittal and Pramod Dayal for
the Petitioners.
Satya Mitra Garg, V.G. Prgasam, Manjit Singh, TY George, Harikesh
Singh, Bindu Saxena, Shailendra Swarup, S. Wasim, A. Qadri, D.S. Mahra,
MPS Tomar, D.P. Vinay Kumar and D. Bharathi Reddy for the Respondents.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
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DR. ARIJIT PASA Y AT, J. I. Prayer in this writ petition is for direction
to the various States Governments and the Union Territories to ensure that '
the mandate of Section 158 (6) of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (in short the
'Act') is complied with without exception. It is stated that Section 158 (6) of
the Act casts a statutory obligation on the concerned police officers forward H
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SUPREME COURT REPORTS
(2007) .8 S.C.R.
A to Claims Tribunal having jurisdiction about the death or bodily injury any
person so recordExcerpt shown. Read the full judgment & AI analysis in Lexace.