New judge to head committee on saving accident victims

The Supreme Court on Monday decided to appoint former Delhi High Court Chief Justice A P Shah to head a committee to frame guidelines for protection of those aiding accident victims.

The apex court also decided to include two retired IPS officers - D R Karthikeyan and B L Vohra - on the panel which will also suggest measures to provide timely help to road mishap victims in view of growing number of casualities on highways.

A bench of Chief Justice P Sathasivam and Justice Ranjan Gogoi said Justice Shah will replace retired judge of the Delhi High Court V S Agrawal, who has expressed his inability due to personal reasons to continue on the panel.

The committee headed by Justice Agrawal has already filed an interim report.
The bench said the new members will go through the interim report and other aspects before filing the final report.

The committee will also take into consideration various expert reports filed by state-owned bodies on road safety, they said.

The court said the panel will consider the two petitions filed in this regard and analyse the suggestions.The bench had on October 4 said it will frame broad guidelines related to road safety and accidents as brought before it through two petitions, one filed by an NGO, Save Life Foundation, and another by an individual S Rajasekaran.
DH News Service