New Delhi, April 10 -- A Supreme Court-constituted committee on road safety has favoured continuation of the monetary cap of Rs.1.5 lakh for cashless treatment of road accident victims during the crucial first hour following the incident in its latest report submitted in the top court on April 6. The cashless treatment scheme during the 'golden hour' was notified by the Centre in February, this year fixing an amount of Rs.1.5 lakh for treatment up to seven days. In November 2025, the top court asked the three-member committee, headed by former Supreme Court judge justice (retd) Abhay Manohar Sapre, to examine whether the cap should be altogether removed or further increased. The committee said that the scheme is still at a nascent stage and any revision of the cap must await feedback from states on the implementation of the scheme over the next six months to one year. Taking up the report on Thursday, a bench of justices JB Pardiwala and KV Viswanathan said, "The committee has informed that it will constantly monitor and periodically call for reports from the ministry of road, transport and highways (MoRTH). Once some concrete material comes on record as regards the functioning of the scheme, the cap issue will also be determined." Posting the matter to May 12, the court asked the concerned stakeholders - General Insurance Council (GIC) along with the petitioner Kishan Chand Jain and senior advocate Gaurav Agarwal assisting the court as amicus curiae to put forth their suggestions before the justice Sapre committee. The report of the Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety said, "The committee is of the opinion as a measure of abundant caution and to ensure that the scheme covers as many individuals as possible, the financial limit be presently capped at Rs.1.5 lakh." The committee came to the conclusion after obtaining views of the MoRTH which was not in favour of increasing the cap. The ministry said that the scheme is aimed to reduce fatalities in road accidents and to provide the initial succor to the victims during crucial first hour....