India

Supreme Court Orders Unified Digital Record for Road Accidents to Combat Fraud

By Utkarsh Anand

The Supreme Court has directed all states to upload road‑accident data to the Electronic Detailed Accident Report (eDAR) portal and to link eDAR with the VAHAN, SARATHI, and Insurance Information Bureau (IIB) databases. The aim is to create a national digital trail for each crash that will speed compensation for genuine victims and expose fake, duplicate or collusive insurance claims before they reach the tribunal. The bench, consisting of Justices Ahsanuddin Amanullah and PB Varale, also required the system to cover hit‑and‑run cases and the PM‑RAHAT cashless treatment scheme, allowing insurers early alerts of accidents. States were given four weeks to complete the integration and file compliance reports.

The order follows earlier directives that every state establish a special investigation team (SIT) to tackle large‑scale fraud in motor‑accident insurance claims. By interlinking VAHAN (national vehicle‑registration database), SARATHI (driving‑licence information), eDAR and IIB claims data, the court said the system would make it harder to sustain fabricated or duplicate claims. Claims could be cross‑verified against police records, vehicle registration, driver licence details, insurance coverage and prior claims history, flagging discrepancies such as repeated use of the same vehicle in unrelated accidents or mismatches in driver identity.

The court also warned insurers that they must forward all fraud‑indicative claims to the state SITs and examine whether their employees have facilitated fraudulent claims. The PM‑RAHAT scheme, which provides cashless treatment of up to ₹1.5 lakh per victim for up to seven days after an accident, will also benefit from the wider linkage.

Contempt show‑cause notices were issued to the heads of several insurance companies for failing to comply with earlier orders or for not appearing in proceedings. Notices were sent to Vaibhav Goyal, managing director of Navi General Insurance Ltd; the managing directors of The New India Assurance Company Ltd, Zuno General Insurance Ltd and the General Insurance Corporation of India; and to Parag Ved, chief executive of Liberty General Insurance. The court rejected Goyal’s apology as “cosmetic and not heartfelt” and directed him to file a personal affidavit. Zuno’s managing director was given a final opportunity to file a fresh affidavit.

The bench also directed states that have not yet formed SITs to do so within four weeks. The next hearing on the matter is scheduled for November 27.