The Madras High Court on Monday ordered an inquiry into a complaint of 108 ambulances being ‘hijacked’ to private hospitals after taking motor accident victims to government hospitals just for the purpose of recording the accident.
Justice N. Anand Venkatesh directed a Special Investigation Team (SIT), the establishment of which was ordered in February 2021 for probing numerous fake motor accident insurance claims in the State, to also inquire into the complaint against the 108 ambulance service. The judge directed the police personnel attached to the SIT to obtain statements of officials of the Tamil Nadu Accident and Emergency Care Initiative (TAEI) in this regard and initiate follow-up action, besides filing a report before the court on April 4.
The orders were passed after advocate N. Vijayaraghavan told the court that the State government had come up with a commendable scheme of bearing the expenses of emergency care for all motor accident victims during the first 48 hours. Such treatment could be given at the state-of-the-art trauma care centres established under TAEI on all important highways in the State. However, there appeared to be a cartel which ‘hijacks’ the 108 ambulances to the private hospitals, he lamented.
On the basis of his other submissions, the judge ordered an inquiry by the Tamil Nadu State Legal Services Authority (TNSLSA) into as many as 84 motor accident claims, worth ₹11.70 crore, which had been withdrawn from a tribunal in Hosur after the court ordered an SIT probe. The judge directed the TNSLSA to summon the claimants and find out whether their lawyers had withdrawn the claim petitions with their consent.
