Firm to get Rs. 1 cr insurance for damaged machine

More than five years after a road accident completely damaged its imported rock drilling equipment, a city-based company will get more than Rs1.04 crore towards part insurance claim.

More than five years after a road accident completely damaged its imported rock drilling equipment, a city-based company will get more than Rs1.04 crore towards part insurance claim.

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Maharashtra State Consumer Commission recently directed National Insurance Company Ltd to pay Patel Engineering Ltd Rs71.28 lakh, along with interest at the rate of 15% per annum from March 2009, when the insurance company had cleared only a part of the claim.

The company had imported the Rocker Boomer - a composite rock drilling machine – from Sweden.

On April 27, 2007, the trailer in which it was being shipped from Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust to a Hydro Electric power plant in Himachal Pradesh, met with an accident near Dhule in Maharashtra. The Rocker Boomer was badly damaged in the accident.

The engineering company then lodged a claim of Rs2.04 crore under a Marine Cargo Open policy it had taken from the insurance company. The insurance company refused to clear the entire amount and, adopting the principle of non-standard basis, deducted 25% of the claim amount, along with a salvage amount.

Patel Engineering accepted the part claim amount of Rs1.43 crore reluctantly and approached the consumer commission seeking compensation for deducting the claim amount and delaying the settlement beyond the stipulated three-month period.

The consumer commission, however, did not find any breach of policy conditions and concluded that the insurance company had arbitrarily deducted 25% of the claim amount.

The commission has now directed the insurance company to pay the balance amount of Rs71.28 lakh to Patel Engineering along with the interest at 15% per annum.

It will also have to pay an additional sum of Rs50,000 to the complainant towards the cost of litigation.