New India Assurance Co. Ltd vs. Ravinder Kumar @ Vickey

ITEM NO.2 COURT NO.6 SECTION X

S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS

Writ Petition(s)(Civil) No.534/2020

BAJAJ ALLIANZ GENERAL INSURANCE COMPANY PRIVATE LTD. Petitioner(s)

VERSUS

UNION OF INDIA & ORS. Respondent(s)

([FOR FURTHER DIRECTION] I.A. No.137572/2021-Intervention/ Impleadment IA No. 132263/2020 - APPROPRIATE ORDERS/DIRECTIONS IA No. 52588/2020 - EX-PARTE AD-INTERIM RELIEF)

• Date : 26-10-2021 This petition was called on for hearing today.
• CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SANJAY KISHAN KAUL HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE M.M. SUNDRESH
  • Mr. N. Vijayaraghavan, AC Mr. Vipin Nair, AOR
• For Petitioner(s) Mr. Siddharth, AOR

For Respondent(s) Mr. Jayant K. Sud, ASG Ms. Garima Prasad, Sr. Adv. Mr. Gurmeet Singh Makker, AOR Mr. Navanjay Mahapatra, Adv. Mr. Bhuvan Mishra, Adv. Mr. Manish, Adv. Mr. Amrish Kumar, AOR Mr. Sughosh Subramanyam, Adv.

• Ms. Sonia Mathur, Sr. Adv.
• Ms. Archana Pathak Dave, AOR
• Ms. Vanya Gupta, Adv. Mr. Parmod Kumar Vishnoi, Adv.

Mr. Mahfooz Ahsan Nazki, AOR Mr. Polanki Gowtham, Adv. Mr. Shaik Mohamad Haneef, Adv. Mr. T. Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy, Adv. Mr. Amitabh Sinha, Adv. Mr. K.V. Girish Chowdary, Adv.

Mr. Abhimanyu Tewari, AOR Ms. Eliza Bar, Adv.

Mr. Sourav Roy, Adv./Dy.AG Mr. Mahesh Kumar, Adv. Mr. Prabudh Singh, Adv. Ms. Devika Khanna, Adv. Mrs. V.D. Khanna, Adv. M/s VMZ Chambers, AOR Mr. Ravindra A. Lokhande, Adv. Mr. Abhishek Atrey, AOR Ms. Ambika Atrey, Adv. Ms. Vishakha, Adv. Ms. Deepanwita Priyanka, AOR Dr. Monika Gusain, AOR Mr. Raj Kamal, AOR Mr. V. N. Raghupathy, AOR Mr. Md. Apzal Ansari, Adv. Mr. G. Prakash, AOR Ms. Priyanka Prakash, Adv. Ms. Beena Prakash, Adv. Dr. Joseph Aristotle S., AOR Ms. Preeti Singh, Adv. Ms. Ripul Swati Kumari, Adv. Mr. Pashupathi Nath Razdan, AOR Mr. Pulkit Agarwal, Adv. Ms. Maitreyee Jagat Joshi, Adv. Mr. Prakhar Srivastav, Adv. Ms. Sneh Bairwa, Adv. Mr. Rahul Chitnis, Adv. Mr. Sachin Patil, AOR Mr. Aaditya A. Pande, Adv. Mr. Geo Joseph, Adv. Mr. Pukhrambam Ramesh Kumar, AOR Ms. Anupama Ngangom, Adv. Mr. Karun Sharma, Adv. Mr. Avijit Mani Tripathi, AOR Mr. T. K. Nayak, Adv. Mr. Shaurya Sahay, Adv. Ms. Rekha Bakshi, Ad. Mr. Siddhesh Kotwal, Adv. Ms. Ana Upadhyay, Adv.

Ms. Manya Hasija, Adv. Ms. Pragya Barsaiyan, Adv. Mr. Akash Singh, Adv. Mr. Nirnimesh Dube, AOR Ms. K. Enatoli Sema, AOR Mr. Amit Kumar Singh, Adv,. Ms. Chubalemla Chang, Adv. Mr. Som Raj Choudhury, AOR Mr. M. Yogesh Kanna, AOR Mr. S. Udaya Kumar Sagar, AOR Ms. Sweena Nair, Adv. Mr. Shuvodeep Roy, AOR Mr. Ishaan B., Adv. Mr. Pradeep Misra, AOR Mr. Yashasvi Virendra, Adv. Mr. Suraj Singh, Adv. Mr. Manoj Kr. Sharma, Adv. Mr. Bhuwan Chandra, Adv. Mr. Soumitra G. Chaudhuri, Adv. Mr. Chanchal Kumar Ganguli, AOR Mr. M. K. Mondal, Adv. Mr. K. V. Jagdishvaran, Adv. Mrs. G. Indira, AOR Mr. Habilila Nana, Adv. Mr. Chirag M. Shroff, AOR Mr. Aravindh S., AOR Mr. A. Lakshminarayan, Adv. Mr. Vishal Meghwal, Adv. Mr. Milind Kumar, AOR

UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following O R D E R

I.A.No.137572 of 2021

The applicant/ impleader is stated to be the council which is a representative body of all General Insurance Companies (currently 24), all Standalone Health Insurance Companies (currently 5), all Reinsurers (including General Insurance Corporation of India, FRBs and Lloyds India-all RI together 12) and Specialized Insurers which has been constituted under Section 64C of the Insurance Act, 1938. The primary role of the Council is stated to be of coordination with the insurance companies, both private and public, to deal with common issues.

In our view, it would be appropriate to implead the said party as the respondent and it is thus accordingly impleaded as a party respondent.

We may also note from the averments in the application that a reference has been made to the submissions made by learned Additional Solicitor General on 24.2.2021 to the effect of holding discussion with all stakeholders and thereafter discussions were so held which has progressed.

The applicant(s) states that they are ready and willing to develop a centralised mobile application if it is so directed by the Court. The directions are sought ostensibly for the reason that in the absence of all the State Police Officials and Accident Tribunal accepting to use it and upload the photo/documents will make the application redundant. We really fail to appreciate why the mobile application could not have been developed and at best directions obtained from the Court for use by all the concerned stakeholders. The development of the mobile application need not have awaited for directions from the Court. Be that as it may, the needful should be done at the earliest now and naturally there would be cooperation from all the stakeholders qua the application so developed so that the user is effective.

4

The application accordingly stands allowed.

I.A.No.132263 of 2020

The directions sought are already covered by various orders passed by us. Application stands disposed of.

Writ Petition (C) No.534/2020

Learned Additional Solicitor General says that a comprehensive report has been filed on 21.10.2021 with the volume running into about 500 pages which has been duly circulated. However, the same has not been placed before us nor does the office report refer to it. Learned counsel to take necessary steps for the same to be placed before us.

Mr. N. L. Rajah, learned senior counsel submits that a group of technically savie youngsters have developed a platform which can sub-serve the requirements of Insurance Companies and if that is required to be tweaked by them for their need, the same can be done. In effect What he submits is that the basic ground work has been done in this behalf.

We are of the view that arrangements may be made for sharing this application/platform with all the stakeholders and they may respond to the same.

List on 16th November, 2021.

(RASHMI DHYANI) (POONAM VAID) COURT MASTER COURT MASTER