How many Hit And Run cases have been decided since April 2022, how many are pending and how much compensation has actually been paid? A widow’s appeal has led the Punjab and Haryana High Court to ask three governments for the numbers.
Chandigarh: Hearing an appeal by a widow against the dismissal of her claim, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has asked the governments of Punjab and Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh to place on record data on hit and run cases reported after the Compensation to Victims of Hit and Run Motor Accidents Scheme, 2022 came into force, up to September 30, 2026.
Justice Harsh Bunger wants the data to show how many such cases have been decided, how many are pending, and where compensation disbursal stands in the decided ones. The matter is listed on October 28, 2026.
Three governments, three responses
Counsel for each of the three governments were asked to place the requisite data on record. Haryana’s counsel asked for time to file an affidavit on the appellant’s own claim. Chandigarh’s counsel handed up an additional affidavit dated September 28, 2026, filed by a Deputy Superintendent of Police (Traffic, R&D, Road Safety), and the Court took it on record subject to all just exceptions.
What the 2022 Scheme provides
Framed under Section 161 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, as amended in 2019, the Scheme took effect on April 1, 2022. It replaced the 1989 Solatium Scheme and offers increased, time-bound compensation to victims or legal heirs where the offending vehicle cannot be identified.
The widow’s appeal
The appellant is the widow of a man who allegedly died in a road accident on November 19, 2017. She is challenging a May 31, 2019 order of the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Sonepat, which dismissed her claim petition. According to the case, her husband was hit by an unknown vehicle on GT Road near a mall, the vehicle fled and was never traced, and an FIR was registered at Police Station Kundli, Sonipat, on April 5, 2018, under Sections 279 and 304-A of the Indian Penal Code.
From one claim to a regional check
Asking all three governments for figures on decided and pending cases and payouts turns an individual claim into a check on how the 2022 Scheme is working in practice in the region. The Court has not yet ruled on the widow’s appeal.
Case Title: Appeal by widow against order of the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Sonepat dated May 31, 2019 [case number not available]
Bench: Justice Harsh Bunger, Punjab and Haryana High Court
Next Hearing: October 28, 2026