The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Union government's Ministry of Transport to come out with suggestions to curb the menace of filing false claims with regard to motor accidents.
A bench of justices MR Shah and Sanjiv Khanna issued notice to the Union government, stating that after getting a response or suggestions, the top court may issue directions to be applied pan-India in this regard.
The court asked Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj to appear before it on behalf of the Ministry of Transport, to render his assistance.
A report filed by a special investigation team (SIT), following the top court's order in the case of one Safiq Ahmad, stated that a total of 1,376 cases of suspicious claims from various districts in Uttar Pradesh have been received so far.
After completing an inquiry into 247 suspicious claims to date, a total of 198 accused have been prima facie found guilty of a cognisable offence and accordingly, a total 92 criminal cases have been registered in various districts, the court was informed. Among these, 28 advocates were named as accused persons in 55 cases, while charge sheets against 11 advocates in 25 cases were forwarded to the trial court concerned to date.
The court asked the investigating officer of the SIT to expedite the investigation with respect to complaints already received from various insurance companies on suspicious fake claims.
It also asked the Bar Council of India and Uttar Pradesh to conclude the disciplinary proceedings against the accused lawyers in accordance with law, as early as possible.
(Published 16 December 2021, 15:56 IST)
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