JUDGMENT

1. In Concord of India Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Nirmala Devi, (1979) 4 SCC 365, Justice Krishna Iyer observed as back as in the year 1979 that an explosive escalation of automobile accidents accounts for more deaths than the most deadly diseases which has become a lethal phenomenon on Indian roads everywhere. Justice Krishna Iyer further observed that automatic reporting of the accident by the police in a statutory pro-forma signed by the claimants to the Claims Tribunal would banish the legal delays in this compassionate jurisdiction. The relevant portion of the judgment is as under:

"1. An explosive escalation of automobile accidents, accounting for more deaths than the most deadly diseases, has become a lethal phenomenon on Indian Roads everywhere. The jural impact of this tragic development on our legislatures, courts and law enforcing agencies is insufficient, with the result that the poor, who are, by and large, the casualty in most of these cases, suffer loss of life or limb and are deprived of expeditious legal remedies in the shape of reasonably quantified compensation promptly paid - and this, even after compulsory motor insurance and nationalisation of insurance bu