Must an accident claimant open a Union Bank of India account to receive MACT compensation? No, the Madhya Pradesh High Court has ruled: MACT compensation can be sent to a claimant’s account in any branch of any nationalised bank, and its own Registry confirmed that no instruction requires accident claimants to open an account with Union Bank of India.
Indore: Two orders of the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal at Neemuch, which allowed compensation to be transferred, for investment in fixed deposits, only to a claimant’s account with Union Bank of India, have been set aside by the Madhya Pradesh High Court [Smt. Shahin and Others v. The New India Assurance Co. Ltd. and Others].
Justice Vinay Saraf, sitting at Indore, disposed of the civil revision filed by the claimants by an order dated October 29, 2026.
What the Registry told the Court
Considering the importance of the issue, the Court asked the Principal Registrar to depute an officer to explain the procedure. Registrar (Judicial) Anil Kumar and Registrar (I.T.) Surya Prakash Sharma, appearing by video conference, said the Chief Justice and the Registry had never directed tribunals to insist on a Union Bank of India account. A compliance report of October 27, 2026 said there was no administrative instruction mandating fixed deposits in any particular bank.
For now, the officers explained, only Union Bank of India is integrated with the High Court’s dashboard for preparing fixed deposits, and integration of other nationalised banks is in progress.
The tribunal’s orders, and the claimants’ answer
In MACC No. 141/2024, the tribunal on July 31, 2026 recalled its earlier order of July 3, 2026 to the extent that the amount meant for fixed deposits could be invested only through an account with Union Bank of India. By a further order of August 5, 2026, it explained that, after the Supreme Court’s directions of April 22, 2025 in Suo Motu W.P. (C) No. 7/2024, the High Court had built an integrated online system to pay claimants directly into Union Bank of India accounts, and that an order of the Chief Justice dated September 25, 2025 and a Registry letter of October 8, 2025 required fixed deposit receipts to be created only with that bank.
The claimants, represented by Advocate Akhil Godha, argued that neither the Supreme Court, the Chief Justice nor the Registry had issued any such instruction, and that compensation could be paid into an account with any branch of any nationalised bank.
No rule tying claimants to one bank
After examining the Chief Justice’s directions, the practice procedure communicated by the Registrar General and the Registry’s clarifications, the Court held:
“There is no such direction that for disbursement of the awarded amount or creation of the Fixed Term Deposit, the account is required to be opened in Union Bank of India.”
Once a claimant gives details of an account maintained with a nationalised bank, it added, “the Tribunals are under obligation to transfer the amount directly to the account of the claimant.”
The five directions
The Court disposed of the petition with these directions:
“(i) The compensation amount will be directly transferred to the bank account of the claimant maintained with any branch of any nationalised bank;
(ii) If amount is not being disbursed through Dashboard, the FDRs can be created in any branch of any nationalised bank;
(iii) If amount is being disbursed through Dashboard, the compensation amount can be transferred to bank account of claimant directly and the account of the claimant may be maintained with any branch of any nationalised bank;
(iv) In case of investing the compensation amount in FDRs through Dashboard, as on today only Union Bank of India is integrated and therefore the FDRs can be opened only in any branch of Union Bank of India, however, there will be no requirement of opening of any account in the Union Bank of India for the purpose of FDR by the claimant;
(v) High Court is in process of integrating some other nationalised banks also and after integration the FDRs would be opened with those banks also.”
The tribunal’s orders of July 31, 2026 and August 5, 2026 were set aside, and the Member, MACT, Neemuch was directed to reconsider the claimants’ application in the light of these directions.
What the order changes for claimants
Direct transfer of accident compensation was meant to speed up payment and cut out middlemen. Reading a technical limitation of the dashboard as a rule that every claimant must open a Union Bank of India account turned that reform into an extra hurdle for families already dealing with a death or serious injury.
The order separates the two questions. Compensation can be paid into any nationalised bank account; only dashboard-created fixed deposits are, for the time being, tied to Union Bank of India, and even then the claimant does not need an account there. Tribunals across Madhya Pradesh now have a clear statement of the procedure from the High Court’s own Registry.
Case Title: Smt. Shahin and Others v. The New India Assurance Co. Ltd. Through Branch Manager and Others [Civil Revision No. 1066 of 2026]
Neutral Citation: 2026:MPHC-IND:30429
Bench: Justice Vinay Saraf, Madhya Pradesh High Court at Indore
Date of Order: October 29, 2026
For the Petitioners: Akhil Godha, Advocate