Hit and Run Victims Can Claim ₹2 Lakh From a Government Fund

If you are reading this a few days after an accident, the practical point is this. There is a central government fund for cases where the vehicle that caused the accident was never traced, and the police are supposed to tell the family that it exists and give them the contact details of the officer who handles the claim.

Nothing here brings anyone back, and no amount of paperwork makes the week any easier. But this money sits in a notified scheme, it does not depend on anyone's goodwill, and the steps below are short enough to work through when you have the strength for them.

The Compensation to Victims of Hit and Run Motor Accidents Scheme 2022 was notified on 25 February 2022, as GSR 163 E, and it took effect on 1 April 2022. Before that, the figures came from the Solatium Scheme 1989. The difference is not a small adjustment.

The Scheme supersedes the Solatium Scheme 1989 from 1 April 2022. The money is paid out of the Motor Vehicles Accident Fund, which has its own set of rules, the Motor Vehicles Accident Fund Rules 2022, notified as GSR 162 E.

This is the part that is easiest to miss, because it is a duty on the police rather than something you have to do. Three duties sit with the police here, not with you, and each one is worth chasing.

The First Accident Report is the document that puts your case in front of the Claims Enquiry Officer in the first place. If it was never sent, your file may simply not exist at that end, and nobody will call you to say so.

When the police station will not answer that question, the Right to Information Act is the right tool, because you are asking for records and dates rather than for an opinion. Address the application to the Public Information Officer of the police district that registered the FIR, and ask for four things: the status of the First Accident Report in your FIR, the date on which it was forwarded to the Claims Enquiry Officer, a copy of the dispatch or covering entry showing that it was sent, and the name and designation of the officer it was sent to.

That wording is an illustration. Put in your own FIR number, its year and the name of the police station.

Our RTI drafting tool will put the request into proper shape, and The RTI Playbook covers what to do next, including the first appeal if the reply never arrives.

1. Find out who the Claims Enquiry Officer is for your district. Ask at the police station handling the FIR. The post is usually attached to the office of the Sub Divisional Magistrate or the District Magistrate, and the exact office varies by district and by state, so do not rely on an address you found online.
2. Keep the accident papers together in one file, the FIR copy and the hospital or medical records you already have.
3. Fill in Form I and Form IV. The claim is made on those two forms, by the injured victim, or by the legal heir or a family member where the victim died.
4. Ask the Claims Enquiry Officer what else that office needs with the forms, rather than guessing at it.
5. Submit the forms, with the documents, to the Claims Enquiry Officer for the district.
6. Take a dated acknowledgement of whatever you hand over. If you send it by post, keep the postal receipt.
7. Keep a photocopy of everything, including the filled forms, before it leaves your hands.
8. Separately, confirm with the police that the First Accident Report has reached the same officer.

The duty to inform is theirs. The police are supposed to tell the victim, or the legal representatives of a victim who died, that the Scheme exists, how and where to apply, and to give the contact details of the Claims Enquiry Officer for the area. If nobody told you, that failure is on their side of the counter, and it is not a reason to stay away. Approach the Claims Enquiry Officer for your district yourself, and separately ask the police station, in writing, whether the First Accident Report was sent and when.

The legal heir or a family member of the person who died. The Scheme frames the police duty to inform as a duty towards the legal representatives of a deceased victim, and the claim itself is made on Form I and Form IV to the Claims Enquiry Officer for the district. Where the victim survived with grievous hurt, the injured person applies.

The Scheme uses the term grievous hurt, which is a legal category and a good deal more serious than an ordinary injury. This page will not list out the limbs of the definition, because a half remembered version of it helps nobody. What matters in practice is what the FIR records and what the medico legal certificate from the hospital says, and the Claims Enquiry Officer applies the Scheme to that material. If the hospital papers describe a serious injury, put the claim in and let the officer decide.

Sending it is the police's job. Within one month of the accident being registered, the FAR with the victim's details is supposed to go to the Claims Enquiry Officer. If it has not gone, ask for it in writing at the police station. If the station will not respond, file an RTI application to the police district asking for the status of the FAR, the date it was forwarded, and the name of the officer it went to. In the meantime you can approach the Claims Enquiry Officer yourself rather than waiting on the police station.

Timing is the one thing not to guess at. This page deliberately does not state a time limit, because a wrong number could stop you from applying at all. Ask the Claims Enquiry Officer for your district directly, and ask the police station handling the FIR who that officer is. Put the question in writing and keep a dated copy, so that if there is ever an argument about delay, you can show when you first asked and who you asked.

1. Confirm the vehicle was never identified. That is the case this fund is for.
2. Get the name and office of the Claims Enquiry Officer for your district from the police station handling the FIR.
3. Ask whether the First Accident Report has been sent, and on what date.
4. Fill in Form I and Form IV and submit them to the Claims Enquiry Officer.
5. Keep photocopies of everything, and a dated acknowledgement of what you handed in.
6. If the police will not answer on the FAR, file an RTI application for the record and the date.
7. Ask the Claims Enquiry Officer about timing rather than relying on anything you read online, this page included.

• Compensation to Victims of Hit and Run Motor Accidents Scheme 2022, notified as GSR 163 E.
• Motor Vehicles Accident Fund Rules 2022, notified as GSR 162 E.
• Ministry of Road Transport and Highways notification dated 25 February 2022, raising compensation to ₹2,00,000 for death and ₹50,000 for grievous hurt, effective 1 April 2022, superseding the Solatium Scheme 1989.
• District administration guidance on the claim process, covering the police duty to inform, the First Accident Report to the Claims Enquiry Officer within one month of registration, and the claim on Form I and Form IV.