T.N. increases fee to be collected from insurance companies for documents relating to accidents
The Tamil Nadu government has increased the fee collected from insurance companies to provide copies of road accident documents. The Home Department recently issued orders to increase the fee by 25%. From the earlier INR100 per document, the fee has now been increased to INR125 a document.
In March 2013, the Chief Minister launched the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network Systems (CCTNS)[1] citizen portal (https://eservices.tnpolice.gov.in), which offered several online services such as online registration of complaints, viewing the status of First Information Reports (FIRs) and community service registers (CSR), among others. In 2017, the State government permitted the sharing of documents pertaining to road accident cases with insurance companies to expedite the settlement of claims to victims. It allowed the collection of INR100 per document related to road accident cases and the collected amount was deposited in the CCTNS.
In 2021, the government decided to allow the police force to increase the fee by 25%. According to the figures provided by the Home, Prohibition and Excise (Motor Vehicles Acts – Administration) Department, the total number of accidents during 2022 was 64,105 of which those with fatalities stood at 17,080. The number of fatalities during 2022 was 17,884.
There were a total of 3,35,05,611 vehicles across TN, as of 2022. It may be noted that buses operated by the State Transport Undertakings (STUs) are not covered under the vehicle insurance scheme and in case of accidents, the victims have to claim through the courts. To provide compensation for accidents involving STU buses, the government formed a separate corpus fund during 2010-2011.
From January 2018, a cess is collected from all passengers towards compensation, funding of accident prevention measures and toll fees, according to the Transport Department.
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References
- ^ the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network Systems (CCTNS) (www.thehindu.com)
- ^ Email (www.thehindu.com)