The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Panchkula, on Thursday ordered local branch of Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company to pay Rs 4.13 lakh to a Chandigarh resident over non-payment of insurance amount.
Kulvir Singh submitted before the consumer forum that he bought a second hand Skoda Octavia on February 18, 2013, which was duly insured with Bajaj Allianz and he also applied for the transfer of the vehicle on February 19 last year.
Unfortunately, the vehicle met with an accident on February 27, 2013, before the issuance of new registration certificate. It needs to be mentioned here that a surveyor was also appointed by the company to assess the loss of Rs 3.83lakh.
But the company refused to pay the insurance money claiming that they did not have “any insurance contract” with the complainant.
The consumer forum which was headed by president of the forum Dharam Pal and members, Anita Kapoor and Anil Sharma, said there was an automatic transfer of the certificate of insurance policy taken by the owner of the vehicle to transferee. “If the transferee fails to move an application for transfer of vehicle within 14 days it will not mean that the insurance policy has become invalid, mere validity on the part of the transferee to intimate the insurance company with regard to the transfer within the prescribed period of 14 days will not exonerate insurance company from its liability,” the forum said.
“It can be seen that the complainant has followed the procedure for the transfer of the vehicle in his name within the required period of 14 days and was to approach Bajaj Allianz for the transfer of the insurance policy in his name, however, the accident has occurred before the date of transfer of the vehicle and the application to the insurance company. To our mind denial of claim to the complainant by Bajaj Allianz will be unjustified in the given circumstances…,” rules the court.
{{/usCountry}}“It can be seen that the complainant has followed the procedure for the transfer of the vehicle in his name within the required period of 14 days and was to approach Bajaj Allianz for the transfer of the insurance policy in his name, however, the accident has occurred before the date of transfer of the vehicle and the application to the insurance company. To our mind denial of claim to the complainant by Bajaj Allianz will be unjustified in the given circumstances…,” rules the court.
{{/usCountry}}It awarded Rs 3.83 lakh of the insurance amount along with Rs 20,000 for mental harassment and Rs 10,000 for cost of litigation.