Jharkhand

Bokaro

CC/18/136

Arun Kumar - Complainant(s)

Versus

Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Co. Ltd. - Opp.Party(s)

Srikant Kumar Sharma

16 May 2023

ORDER

                District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Bokaro

Date of Filing-23-10-2018

Date of final hearing-16-05-2023

 Date of Order-16-05-2023

Case No. 136/2018

Arun Kumar S/o Late S.D. Singh

R/o Shiksha Bhawan, Sector-1, Ram Mandir,

Bokaro Steel City District Bokaro

                                      Vrs.

1. Branch Manager, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Co. Ltd.

504, Fifth Floor, Mahabir Tower, (Opp. Gel Church Complex),

Main Road, Ranchi-834001

2. Branch Manager, Fedral Bank Ltd.

Sector 4, B.S. City P.S. Sector-4, District Bokaro

Present:-

                             Shri Jai Prakash Narayan Pandey, President

Shri Bhawani Prasad Lal Das, Sr.Member

                  Smt. Baby Kumari, Member

PER- J.P.N Pandey, President

-:Order:-

1. Complainant’s case in brief is that he is owner of Truck bearing Registration No. JH-09-R-0223 which was insured with Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Co. Ltd. (O.P. No.1) for the period from 07.09.2013 to 06.09.2014. Further case is that on 12.05.2014 said truck met with an accident at Pusauli under District Kaimur (Bhabua) for which Kudra P.S. Case No. 92/2014 dt. 22.05.2014 was registered and information about the occurrence was given to the O.Ps., accordingly surveyor of O.P. No.1 inspected the vehicle and as per his instruction complainant has submitted the documents in Dhanbad office and brought the vehicle to Bokaro by paying charge for repair of the vehicle, accordingly estimated cost of the repair has been assessed to the tune of Rs. 5,79,700/-. Further case is that complainant approached O.P. for repair and matter was settled but not a single paisa has been given by the O.P. and due to non payment of repair cost as settled vehicle remained unrepaired, hence became rotten and under very bad condition in which a sum of Rs. 10,00,000/- is required for its repair. Further case is that as per instruction of O.P. No. 1 complainant paid the loan amount to the O.P. No.2 but matter has not been settled and owner of the garage is demanding Rs. 2000/- per day as parking charge, hence legal notice dt. 19.06.2018 and 09.08.2018 have been served having no reply by the O.Ps. Hence this case has been filed with prayer to direct the O.P. to pay Rs. 5,79,700/- estimated repair cost, Rs. 93,314/- road tax, Rs. 40,000/- tochen charge of the vehicle, Rs. 11,96,000/- as compensation and Rs. 60,000/- as litigation cost.
2.  O.P. No.2 ( Bank) has filed W.S. mentioning therein that he is not liable to pay any amount and loan amount has already been paid by the complainant to this O.P. hence at present bank is having no grievance with the complainant.
3. O.P. No.1 Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Co. Ltd. has filed W.S. mentioning therein that case is hopelessly time barred because accident was occurred on 22.05.2014 and case has been filed on 22.10.2018 after expiry of limitation period. Further reply is that driver of the vehicle was having no valid license to drive the said vehicle hence owner of the vehicle is responsible for it. Further reply is that inspite of repeated reminders dt. 17.09.2014, 24.09.2014, 16.10.2014, 17.12.2014 complainant has not produced required documents before the O.P. hence his claim has been rightly not paid. Further reply is that vehicle concerned was not having  valid and effective permit on the date of occurrence which was being driven by the person who was having no driving license to drive it hence under the law claim is not payable.  Hence it prayed to dismiss the case.
4. Point for consideration is whether complainant is entitled to get relief as prayed or not?
5. On careful perusal of the documents produced by the O.P. No.1 it appears that annexure 10 is claim rejection letter dt. 27.12.2014 in which it is mentioned that in view of the letter dt. 16.09.2014, 14.10.2014, 28.10.2014, 03.11.2014 and 17.12.2014 complainant failed to submit any positive response towards settlement of claim hence in view of above, due to non cooperation and non submission of documents it is presumed that complainant is not interested to pursue the claim. Accordingly claim has been closed. Copy of those letters have been enclosed as Annexure-4, 5, 6,7,8, & 9 of the W.S. On careful perusal of the contents of the complaint petition it appears that in respect to those letters complaint petition is silent and in respect to rejection letter dt. 27.12.2014 there is no whisper in the complaint petition. In this way it is apparent that complainant has not come before this Commission with clean hands.
6. From perusal of the papers annexed with the complaint petition it appears that photo copy of policy certificate is annexure-1, photo copy of letter written by O.P. No.1 to the complainant  is annexure-2 by which complainant was directed to provide final repair tax invoice, payment receipt and claim discharge cum satisfaction voucher. This letter has been send to the complainant through speed post dt. 24.09.2014 but complainant has not filed any paper to show that he has submitted demanded documents before the O.P. No.1 for payment of the claim or he has complied the directions of the O.P. No.1 as mentioned in the letters referred by the O.P. No.1 as mentioned at para 5 of this order. Annxure-3 is photo copy of FIR of Kudra P.S. Case No. 92/2014, Annxure-4 is the photo copy of release order of the Court of the CJM, Kaimur and Annxure-5 & 6 are photo copy of Advocate’s Notice dt. 19.06.2018 and 09.08.2018. Except above mentioned papers no any other paper has been filed by the complainant rather today complainant has produced photo copy of authorization certificate of Transport Dept. of Jharkhand which shows that it was valid from 25.11.2014 to 25.11.2016 and contrary to it accident was occurred on 22.05.2014 on which date this paper was not effective. Other paper is photo copy of tax token which is having no importance. Photo copy of certificate of fitness and national permit have also been filed.
7. Record reveals that case has been admitted on 26.10.2018 but order sheet is not disclosing the fact that delay in filing the case has been condoned. Therefore, it is apparent that the condonation application dt. 26.10.2018 filed by the complainant has not been taken into consideration on the date of admission. As it has been discussed above complainant has not come before this Commission with clean hands rather he has suppressed so many material facts in the complaint petition hence we have taken up the question related to limitation of the case. As per condonation application there was inquiry by the surveyor hence complainant was in impression that payment will be made which was finally denied on 10.06.2018 thereafter legal notice was issued. Further ground is that complainant went to Vellore for treatment of his mother but she died so case was not filed in time. It is important to note here that claim has been denied vide letter dt. 27.12.2014 served upon the complainant through speed post dt. 30.12.2014 hence cause of action of the case arose on 27.12.2014 and limitation of the case will start to run from that very date. No any supportive evidence regarding treatment of the mother of the complainant at Vellore or refusal by the O.P. No.1 on 10.06.2018 has been filed or given by the complainant. Therefore we are of the view that case is hopelessly time barred.
8. In light of above discussion we are of the view that complainant has not proved his case for grant of relief as prayed. Accordingly this point is being decided against the complainant.
9. Hence this case is being dismissed on contest.

                                                                                                                                                                                                               S/d

(J.P.N. Pandey)

                                                                                      President

 

 

                                                                                               S/d

(B.P.L Das)

   Sr. Member

                                                                            

                                          S/d             

                                                                              (Baby Kumari)

                                                                                       Member