BEFORE THE DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION, SIRSA.
Consumer Complaint no. 45 of 2021.
Date of Institution : 26.02.2021.
Date of Decision : 07.06.2023.
Atma Ram son of Sh. Gheru Ram, resident of village Gudia Khera, Tehsil Nathusari Chaupta, District Sirsa.
……Complainant.
Versus.
1. Axis Bank, Vaidwala Branch, Tehsil and District Sirsa, through its Branch Manager.
2. Oriental General Insurance Company Limited, Oriental House, A-25/27, Asaf Ali Road, New Delhi, 110002, through its General Manager.
...…Opposite parties.
Complaint under Section 35 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.
BEFORE: SH. PADAM SINGH THAKUR ………………PRESIDENT
MRS.SUKHDEEP KAUR………………………MEMBER.
SH. OM PARKASH TUTEJA………………….MEMBER
Present: Sh. M. K. Singla, 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 under Section 35 of Consumer Protection Act, 2019 against the opposite parties (hereinafter referred to as Ops).
2. In brief, the case of the complainant is that complainant is owner in possession of agricultural land in village Baruwali-II, District Sirsa and has availed agricultural land from op no.1 against his 4.05 hectares of land. That complainant sown wheat crop in Rabi 2018-2019. It is further averred that as per scheme of the Government namely Pardhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna, on 07.12.2018 the op no.1 debited amount of Rs.4039.87 as insurance premium for insuring his wheat crop with op no.2, but policy was not delivered to the complainant. That average yield of wheat crop of village Baruwali IInd remained quite below that the threshold yield in the Nathusari Block and other farmers received insurance claim from op no.2 but complainant did not get any claim amount for his wheat crop of rabi 2018-2019. That complainant could not get insurance claim from any of the ops as his village was shown as Baruwali-I instead of Baruwali-II which is gross negligence and deficiency of service of op no.1 on account of which complainant has suffered financial loss and unnecessary harassment. Hence, this complaint seeking claim amount of Rs.2,69,325/- alongwith interest besides compensation for harassment and litigation expenses from ops.
3. On notice, ops appeared. Op no.1 filed written version raising certain preliminary objections. It is submitted that premium of Rs,4039/- for insurance of crop of complainant was paid to the insurance company after deduction of same from the account of complainant on 7.12.2018 and name of village of insured land was mentioned as Baruwali II. That as per clause 19 (XXII) of Haryana Govt. Agriculture and Farmer, Welfare Department notification No. 941-Agri-II (I)- 2018/4332 dated 30.03.2018 the insurance company shall verify the data of insured farmers pertaining to area insured, area sown, address, bank account number (KYC) as provided by the banks independently on its own cost within two months of the cutoff date and in case of any correction must report to the State Govt. failing which no objection by the Insurance Company at a later stage will be entertained and it will be binding on the insurance company to pay the claim. It is further submitted that answering op has correctly mentioned the area of agriculture land of complainant. Moreover, after acceptance of premium of insurance, the matter of insurance claim is between complainant and insurance company. 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 version raising certain preliminary objections. It is submitted that answering op no.2 had not received the premium for the insurance of crop in the land of complainant situated in village Baruwali-II and the same was not insured with answering op. The banker of the complainant has uploaded the name of the village as Baruwali-I in place of Baruwali-II on the National Crop Insurance Portal wrongly and did not make any effort to rectify the mistake and to correct the name of village in the portal before closure of the same. After the closure of the portal no correction can be made. It is further submitted that according to clause 17.2 of the revised operational guidelines of the PMFBY in cases where farmers are denied crop insurance due to incorrect/ partial/ non uploading of their details on portal, concerned banks/ intermediaries shall be responsible for payments of claim to them. That as land of complainant is situated in village Baruwali-II, he is not entitled to any claim from op no.2 for loss of his crops of village Baruwali-II. In the meeting dated 14.01.2021 also, it was decided that where the name of village mismatched, the bank have to pay the claim. It is further submitted that as no loss to crop of rabi 2018 was reported or assessed by any Govt. agency in village Baruwali-I, the complainant is not entitled to any claim from answering op on any count. Moreover, complainant has not sought any relief from answering op. With these averments, dismissal of complaint prayed for.
5. The complainant in evidence has tendered his affidavit Ex.C1 and copies of documents Ex.C2 to Ex.C6.
6. On the other hand, op no.2 has tendered affidavit of Ms. Puja Deputy Manager as Ex.R1 and relevant clauses of PMFBY Ex.R2 to Ex.R7 and minutes of the meeting dated 14.01.2021 Ex.R8.
7. Op no.2 has tendered affidavit of Sh. Pankaj Saini Manager & Principal Officer as Ex.R1 and statement of account Ex.R2.
8. We have heard learned counsel for the parties and have gone through the case file carefully.
9. From the copy of statement of account placed on file by complainant as Ex.C6, it is evident that on 7.12.2018 an amount of Rs.4039.87 as premium amount was deducted from his account for insurance of his crop of Rabi 2018. The complainant in order to prove that he is having his agricultural land in village Baruwali-II has placed on file copies of jamabandis as Ex.C3 and Ex.R4. So, it is proved on record that complainant is having his land in said village Baruwali-II and not in village Baruwali-I. The defence plea of the op no.1 bank that name of village of insured land was mentioned as Baruwali-II is belied by its own document i.e. insurance details/ particulars provided to the complainant by op no.1 bank which is placed on file by complainant as Ex.C5 in which the area of complainant is shown in village Baruwali Ist and as such it is proved on record that wrong name of village was uploaded by the op no.1 bank on the national crop insurance portal. In so far as damage to the crop of wheat of complainant of rabi, 2018 is concerned, the complainant in order to prove the damage to his crop has also placed on file report of Deputy Director, Agriculture department, Sirsa as Ex.C2 which reveals that average yield of wheat crop of Rabi 2018-2019 in village Baruwali-II was 2616.87 Kgs. per hectare and threshold yield of block Nathusari Chopta was 4556.16 Kgs. per hectare and therefore, as per guidelines of PMFBY, there was loss to the wheat crop of complainant in rabi 2018. The complainant has claimed insurance claim amount of Rs.2,69,325/- for the damage of his wheat crop in 4.05 hectares of land but as per above said report of agriculture department, it cannot be said that there was total loss of wheat crop in village Baruwali-II. A formula has been given in the operational guidelines of PMFBY for calculation of claim amount for the loss of crop which is as under:-
Threshold yield minus average yield X sum insured
_____________________________
Threshold yield
10. As mentioned above, the threshold yield of wheat crop of block Nathusari Chopta in Rabi 2018-2019 was 4556.16 Kgs. per hectare and average yield of village Baruwali-II was 2616.87 Kgs. per hectare and as such the yield of village Baruwali-II was less but there was no total loss of the wheat crop as claimed by complainant. The sum insured amount of wheat crop in Rabi 2018-2019 was Rs.66,500/- per hectare as per Haryana Govt. notification dated 30.03.2018, the copy of which has been produced by learned counsel for complainant during the course of arguments. So, the complainant is entitled to the amount of Rs.1,14,635/- for the loss of his wheat crop in his 4.05 hectares of land as per above said formula given in the operational guidelines of PMFBY. The complainant is entitled to said claim amount from op no.1 bank as it is proved on record that op no.1 bank wrongly uploaded the name of village of complainant on the crop insurance portal and has not admitted its mistake rather stated that op no.1 has correctly mentioned the name of village of complainant where his land is situated. Even the Manager of the bank in his affidavit Ex.R2 has also not admitted their mistake despite the fact that complainant has produced on record the document Ex.C5 provided by the bank to him in which they have shown the land of complainant in village Baruwali Ist and in such cases as per clause 17.2 of the operational guidelines of PMFBY, the concerned bank branch is liable to pay the claim of affected farmers whose village mismatch are due to wrong village name entered by the bank on National Crop Insurance Portal. As such the op no.1 bank is only liable to pay the above said amount to the complainant.
11. In view of our above discussion, we allow the present complaint qua opposite party no.1 bank and direct op no.1 to pay the claim amount of Rs.1,14,635/- to the complainant for the loss of his wheat crop of Rabi, 2018 within a period of 45 days from the date of receipt of copy of this order, failing which complainant will be entitled to receive the said amount of Rs.1,14,635/- from op no.1 bank alongwith interest @6% per annum from the date of this order till actual realization. We also direct the op no.1 bank to further pay a sum of Rs.10,000/- as composite compensation for harassment and litigation expenses to the complainant within above stipulated period. However, complaint qua op no.2 insurance company stands dismissed. A copy of this order be supplied to the parties as per rules. File be consigned to the record room.
Announced: Member Member President,
Dated: 0706.2023. District Consumer Disputes
JK Redressal Commission, Sirsa.
