SC floats ‘no insurance, no fuel’ pilot

News | The Supreme Court has reportedly asked the insurance regulator and the road transport ministry to design a pilot under which petrol pumps would deny fuel to vehicles without valid third‑party insurance. The directions are attributed to a bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and Prashant Kumar Mishra, via a report carrying PTI copy; the signed order was not available on the court’s site at the time of writing. According to the report, the bench told IRDAI, in consultation with MoRTH, to “evolve a pilot project” linking fuel to insurance status, with uninsured vehicles refused fuel until they buy cover. That is a pilot to be designed — not a nationwide order to pumps today.

The report also quotes the court proposing ANPR cameras, integration of insurance and VAHAN databases, and automatic e‑challans to enforce Section 146 of the Motor Vehicles Act. It further says the bench directed longer mandatory third‑party policies for new vehicles — four years for cars and six for two‑wheelers — and that the petroleum ministry had “in principle” no objection to the fuel‑link idea. Those specifics remain reported quotations pending the order.

On the scale of the problem, a 2023 Lok Sabha answer put uninsured vehicles at 16.54 crore out of 30.48 crore — roughly 54%, and notably excluding Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Lakshadweep. The report says the court cited “nearly 56%” from a 2024–25 finance panel, but that document has not been placed on record here.

What this means in practice depends on what IRDAI and MoRTH actually design, which states get picked, how real‑time verification works, and who carries the liability when the database is wrong. The BJP‑led Centre has spent years talking road safety while letting half the fleet run uninsured; if a court nudge is what finally moves Delhi, that says enough about Delhi.