In a recent hearing on April 28, 2025, the Supreme Court strongly criticized the Centre for failing to implement the Golden Hour treatment scheme for road accident victims, as required under Section 162(2) of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. Responding to this, the government assured the Court that the scheme would be brought into effect within one week.
“People are dying in road accidents. You are constructing huge highways but people are dying there because there is no facility. There is no scheme for golden hour treatment. What is the use of constructing so many highways?” — Justice Abhay S. Oka
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A bench comprising Justice Abhay S. Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan was reviewing the Centre’s delay in following the Court's previous order. The Secretary of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) appeared through video conferencing and tendered an apology for not complying with the Court’s direction issued on January 8, 2025.
The Court reminded the Secretary that Section 162(2) mandates a scheme to provide cashless treatment during the “golden hour” — the first hour after a traumatic injury — to increase chances of survival. Although the provision became law on April 1, 2022, the Centre had failed to operationalize the scheme for over two years.
“For the last 2 years what have you been doing? What is the use of such beneficial provision? How many people have died because they could not get the treatment?” — Justice Oka
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The Secretary informed the bench that a draft of the scheme had been prepared, but complications arose due to objections from the General Insurance Council (GIC). GIC reportedly wanted to verify insurance status before releasing payments, insisting that it handle disbursements instead of the State Health Agency (SHA). However, the Centre maintained that the SHA was better equipped for payment responsibilities.
“Now there is some hitch about who is the deciding authority to release the payment to the hospital. So this can be resolved by simply saying that the SHA will do this.” — Amicus Curiae Senior Advocate Gaurav Agrawal
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Justice Oka criticized the Ministry for not seeking an extension and failing to act on such a critical issue. He emphasized that technical challenges could be resolved later, but the scheme must be launched without further delay.
The Court also discussed the non-implementation of Section 164A, which requires a scheme for interim relief to accident claimants. Although active since April 2022 for a three-year term, no such scheme had been introduced. The Court directed the Centre to frame this scheme within four months from April 28, 2025.
“Such an important provision has remained unimplemented for the last 3 years. This failure has to be deprecated.” — Supreme Court
Finally, the Secretary assured the Court that the golden hour scheme was legally approved and would be notified shortly, with legal vetting being the only pending step. The case has been listed for further compliance on May 13, 2025.
Case No.: WP (C) No. 295/2012
Case Title: S. Rajaseekaran v. Union of India and Ors.
