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MACAD Scheme to be enforced in Tamil Nadu - 1st October onwards
The general rule in the Motor Vehicle Accidents Claim is the reimbursement by the Insurance Companies in a lump sum. The amount is generally calculated by giving due weightage to the injured’s salary, his family condition, the injury suffered and other such essentials. The amount is given in one single transaction only.
But recently in the month of March 2019 the Supreme Court of India initiated a new scheme known as the Motor Accidents Claim Annuity Deposit (MACAD) Scheme. The Supreme Court advised that this scheme should be applied in the entire country and to all the motor vehicle accident claims without any exceptions.
The main purpose of the MACAD is to make sure that the money received by the insured is not in a lump sum but is received in Equated Monthly Installments (EMIs). This would ensure that there is no leakage. This scheme would give a share of the principal amount and the interest to the insured in equal monthly installments.
The Scheme would function by opening a new bank account in the name of the insured in a nationalized bank in India. The insured would receive monthly payments from the bank. No debit cards or cheque books would be issued in favour of the insured connected to this bank. Also, this account cannot have the name of any other person associated withit as. All this will ensure that the insured gets the money he deserves but there would be no mismanagement of the money.
In the past couple days the Madras High Court was dealing with a matter relating to the double litigation in the courts and in the Motor Vehicle Accidents Claims Tribunal. The matter was to look into the frivolous litigation pending in the courts which already have a consequent matter present before the Claims Tribunal.
While dealing with the matter Hon’ble Mr. Justice P N Prakash held that the initiative taken by the Supreme Court shall be enforced in the state of Tamil Nadu as well. The MACAD Scheme will be made applicable in the State from 1st October 2019, and there will be no exceptions to the scheme unless the Scheme so mentions it. All the cases will be disposed off in the manner prescribed by this Scheme only.
Also, the Madras HC held that it is necessary to into the double litigation present in the courts and Claims Tribunal. For this reason Justice Prakash appointed Justice K Chandru, former judge of High Court to look into the matter. The expert committee has to look into the double litigation and find out whether the case briefs have been sold to the advocates for monetary purposes or not. The expert committee found 264 such cases whose claims amounted to rupees 48.22 crore.
While implementing the MACAD Scheme the High Court gave the following reasoning. In their view the scheme should be implemented for both practical and realistic reasons. The scheme should be uniformly applied leaving no exceptions behind. It shall be applicable to all the matters solved via Arbitration, Mediation, Lok Adalat or even by way of compromise between the parties.
Many nationalized banks have already started a different cell for the implementation of the scheme. The State Bank of India, Union Bank of India, Dena Bank are some of the examples of such banks.
