SC: People losing lives but govt not framing policy

New Delhi: Pulling up the Centre for delay in framing a scheme for cashless treatment of road accident victims during 'golden hour', Supreme Court Wednesday said people are losing their lives because they are not getting treatment but govt was doing nothing and summoned the secretary of the ministry of road transport and highways to appear before it.

A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan said that govt and the concerned department have committed serious breach of court order by not bringing the scheme within the time frame fixed by the court. It, however, granted a last opportunity and said it would not shy away from initiating contempt proceedings if it is not done and asked the secretary to appear online before it on April 28 to give explanation for delay.

SC had on Jan 8, 2025, directed the Centre to make a scheme by March 14 to provide cashless treatment of victims of road accidents during the golden hour , but which is being denied by hospitals for various reasons including concerns related to payment of charges for the treatment.

"The provision made in Section 162 seeks to uphold and protect the right to life guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution. Moreover, it is a statutory obligation of Centre to frame the scheme. More than reasonable time was available to frame the scheme . Once the scheme is framed and its implementation starts, it will save the lives of several injured persons who succumb to injury simply because they do not receive requisite medical treatment during the golden hour," the court had said.