Ludhiana consumer disputes commission penalises insurance company for deficient service

Following a complaint filed at the Ludhiana consumer disputes redressal commission, regarding the release of an accident claim, an insurance company was directed to reimburse the complainant and pay a ₹8,000-compensation for deficient service

The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission directed National Insurance Company Limited to release an accidental claim of ₹2 lakh and pay ₹8,000 compensation to Naresh Kumar Jain of Rishi Nagar, who had submitted a complaint of deficient services.

The Ludhiana consumer disputes redressal commission directed an insurance company to release an accident claim and pay a ₹8,000-compensation for deficient service (Getty Images)

In his complaint, Jain claimed that the repudiation of the claim, of ₹2 lakh climbed after an insured car met with an accident, was wrong and amounted to deficiency of service on the part of the insurance company.

A surveyor of the company had inspected the car after the accident, but no claim with regard to damages were paid.

The insurer reasoned by saying that the complainant firm had no insurable interest in the car as one of the partners in the firm gifted the car to his daughter and delivered possession in 2006. The insurer had further said the same had been confirmed by Vipul Jain, son of Rajesh Chander Jain, the authorised signatory of the complainant firm.

The Commission, in its order, observed that the insurance company has been accepting the annual premium of insurance from the complainant firm.

“To prove the allegation that the car was gifted in the year 2006, no documentary evidence has been brought on record and the insurance company has relied upon just one evidence. Therefore, merely on the unproved allegations that the car has been gifted to the daughter of one of the partners of the complainant firm, the claim could not be validity repudiated when the complainant firm continues to be the registered owner of the car and has been getting insured it regularly,” the order read.

The Commission further added that the insurance company shall consider and reimburse the claim in respect of the car as per the terms and conditions of the policy and also pay an additional ₹8,000 compensation.