The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked courts and tribunals to direct insurance companies to transfer claim amounts directly to the claimants' bank accounts to avoid unnecessary delays. A bench of Justices JK Maheshwari and Rajesh Bindal gave the directions in a motor accident claim matter. "The general practice followed by the insurance companies, where the compensation is not disputed, is to deposit the same before the tribunal. Instead of following that process, a direction can always be issued to transfer the amount into the bank account(s) of the claimant(s) with intimation to the tribunal," it said. According to the practice extant, insurance companies, when they are supposed to pay a claim, either deposit the sum with the tribunal, or in some small percentage of cases, transfer it to the accounts of the claimants if directed by the tribunal in the award. Once the amount is deposited before the tribunal, the claimant(s) must move an application for withdrawal. It is usually not .