Telangana HC adjourns petitions on amendment to MV Act

On the request of Deputy Solicitor General Gadi Praveen Kumar and senior counsel Jandhyala Ravishankar, who argued for ICICI Insurance Company, a division bench of the Telangana High Court delayed the two writ petitions till March 3, 2023.

Ayiti Hanmandlu and his wife filed the two petitions contesting the Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Act 32 of 2019 which inserted the amendment to Section 166(3) of the MV Act 1988. Petitioners contended that the amendment to the MV Act was arbitrary, illegal, unconstitutional, and biased, and is against public policy and victims’ rights, as well as a violation of Articles 14, 19, and 20 of the Indian Constitution.

Accordingly, the court set aside the above-mentioned Amendment Act by directing the respondent to entertain the MVOP filed under Section 166(1c) of the Motor Vehicle Act of 1988, without insisting on the delay petition and rules there under in the interlocutory.

Senior Counsel P Sri Raghuram, who was nominated by the court as an amicus curiae to assist the court, advised the court that the deleted expansion time in the Amended Motor Vehicle Act is unconstitutional and presented several Supreme Court Orders to the Bench in support of his claim.

The bench observed that in an accident, the family loses one small child, members of the family suffer various injuries, and let the Insurance come to provide interim compensation and deferred the petitions until March 3, 2023.