BEFORE THE DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION, SIRSA.
Consumer Complaint no. 06 of 2020.
Date of Institution : 07.01.2020
Date of Decision : 31.10.2023.
Rakesh son of Shri Om Parkash, resident of village Nezia Khera, Tehsil and District Sirsa.
……Complainant.
Versus.
1. Branch Manager, Axis Bank, Branch Sirsa, District Sirsa.
2. Oriental Insurance Company Ltd. Branch Office at Sirsa, through its Divisional Manager/ Branch Manager.
...…Opposite parties.
Complaint under Section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act,1986 as amended up to date.
Before: SHRI PADAM SINGH THAKUR…………….PRESIDENT.
SMT. SUKHDEEP KAUR…………………….MEMBER
Present: Sh. Mukesh Godara, Advocate for complainant.
Sh. M.S. Sethi, Advocate for opposite party no.1.
Sh. K.L. Gagneja, Advocate for opposite party no.2.
ORDER
The complainant has filed the present complaint against the opposite parties (hereinafter referred as ops) seeking insurance claim for the damage of his kharif crop of 2018.
2. In brief, the case of complainant is that he is an agriculturist having land measuring 12 acres in village Neziakhera, Tehsil and District Sirsa. He is having Kisan Credit Card with op no.1 bearing account no. 915030055169428 vide which he has mortgaged his 12 acres land with op no.1. That on 26.07.2018, premium amount of Rs.6243.84 was deducted by op no.1 from the account of complainant for insuring his kharif crop of 2018 with op no.2 as per Pardhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna. It is further averred that crop of kharif season of 2018 of complainant was damaged and as such claim was lodged with the ops. The spot inspection was got done by officials of op no.2 but till date no claim has been paid to him whereas other farmers of said village have already received compensation. Even the ops have not told the status of his claim and now after lodging of claim with op no.1, the op no.1 without giving any satisfactory reply has refunded the deducted premium and ops have violated the terms and conditions of above said scheme and have committed gross deficiency in services towards complainant and have caused unnecessary harassment. The complainant is entitled to the insurance amount of Rs.2,00,000/- as well as compensation for harassment and litigation expenses from ops. That complainant also got served a legal notice dated 19.08.2019 upon ops but to no effect. Hence, this complaint.
3. On notice, ops appeared. Op no.1 filed written statement taking certain preliminary objections. It is submitted that amount of Rs.6243.84 was debited in the account of complainant on 26.07.2018 and same has been transferred to op no.2 for insurance of crop of kharif, 2018 of complainant. OP no.2 has accepted the premium without any objection and as such insurance company is liable to compensate the complainant regarding any loss caused to complainant. It is also submitted that op no.2 has not raised any objection as per clause 19 (XXII) of Haryana Govt. notification dated 30.03.2018, but op no.2 has refunded the premium on 22.05.2019 on the ground of non submission of aadhar card. Op no.2 has never demanded aadhar card and refunded the amount after 10 months of acceptance of premium against the above said notification. Remaining contents of complaint are also denied to be wrong and prayer for dismissal of complaint qua op no.1 made.
4. Op no.2 also filed written statement raising certain preliminary objections. It is submitted that no premium whatsoever was remitted to op no.2 by op no.1. Had the premium been deducted from the account of complainant, his crop would have been insured and his account particulars for the purpose of insurance would have been uploaded on the National Crop Insurance Portal of PMFBY by the nodal bank i.e. Axis Bank but his account particulars are not uploaded on the portal. Thus, the crop of complainant was not insured with answering op. Remaining contents of complaint are also denied to be wrong and prayer for dismissal of complaint qua op no.2 made.
5. The complainant in evidence has tendered his affidavit Ex. CW1/A and documents i.e. postal receipt Ex.C2, statement of account Ex.C3 and Ex.C4, khasra girdawari for the year 2018-2019 Ex.C5 and jamabandi for the year 2011-2012 Ex.C6.
6. On the other hand, OP no.1 has tendered affidavit of Sh. Pankaj Saini, Manager & Principal Officer as Ex.R1 and statement of account Ex.R2. Op no.2 has tendered affidavit of Sh. Virender Kumar, Divisional Manager as Ex.R1 (again) and documents i.e. relevant clauses of PMFBY Ex.R2 to R7 and minutes of meeting Ex.R8.
7. We have heard learned counsel for the parties and have gone through the case file carefully.
8. First of all we have observed from the record that complainant has not proved on record the basic requirement i.e. loss of his kharif crop of 2018. Even the complainant in his complaint has not mentioned that which of the crop was sown by him in Kharif, season 2018. From the khasra girdawari Ex.C5, it is evident that complainant had sown cotton and guar crop in kharif season 2018 but however complainant in his entire complaint has not even mentioned that to what crop loss/ damage was caused. Further more, the complainant has also failed to prove any loss to his said crops of cotton as well as guar. He has not placed on file any report of agriculture department or any other agency to prove loss to any of his crops of kharif, 2018. The complainant has failed to prove on record that what was the average yield of crops in village Nezia Khera and what was the threshold yield of block of village Nezia Khera and even the name of crop to which loss, if any was caused has not been mentioned by complainant. As such complainant is not entitled to any claim amount for any of the ops and complaint deserves dismissal.
9. In view of our above discussion, we do not find any merit in the present complaint and same is hereby dismissed but with no order as to costs. A copy of this order be supplied to the parties as per rules. File be consigned to the record room.
Announced : Member President,
Dated: 31.10.2023. District Consumer Disputes
Redressal Commission, Sirsa.
JK
