By PTI
CHENNAI: Expressing concern over underage driving, the Madras High Court has directed the government to effectively implement the Motor Vehicles Act to prevent minors and underaged persons from driving motorised two-wheelers or four-wheelers.
Justice S Kannammal hoped that the law enforcement agencies would find ways and means, so that there may not be any such recurrence of the adolescent getting entangled in untoward incidents of motor vehicle accidents and suffer silently.
“This Court also takes judicial notice of the fact that juvenile driving is on the rise in our state (Tamil Nadu) and it is not encouraging.
Innocent lives are being lost or impaired at a young age, much to the chagrin of the lawmakers and the society as a whole,” the judge said.
“Instances are galore that teenage boys indulge in bike racing without any impunity, with utter disregard to the safety of other road users. Therefore, it is high time that there should be an effective implementation of the Motor Vehicles Act to curb the menace of underage driving,” Justice Kannammal added.
The court gave the direction and made the observation while rejecting a plea from Irfan, who drove a two-wheeler and met with a road accident and sustained serious injuries when he was a minor in September 2010.
He moved the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal here, which in 2017 rejected his plea for Rs 7 lakh compensation from the New India Assurance Company.
Hence, the present appeal.
Turning down the plea, the judge said though the court sympathises with the appellant for the injuries sustained by him, it will not be a ground for it to recognise or to give a stamp of approval for the act done by him in riding the two-wheeler, while he was a minor.
If the claim of the appellant is entertained, the court is afraid that it would open the floodgates and those who have no right to drive a vehicle would approach it and justify their act to be recognised resulting in a docket explosion.
“Even though Motor Vehicles Act is a benevolent legislation, as contended by the counsel for the appellant, I do not think that it would ipso facto be applied in all the cases.
Further, when there is a clear violation of policy conditions, the Insurance company cannot be burdened with the obligation of paying compensation amount to the appellant, when under law, he is not entitled to receive it.”
“When the appellant himself is a tort-feasor, he is not entitled to maintain the claim petition at all. Therefore, this Court is of the view that there is no legal infirmity in the order of dismissal passed by the Tribunal,” the judge said.