BEFORE THE DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION, SIRSA.
Consumer Complaint no. 166 of 2019.
Date of Institution : 08.04.2019.
Date of Decision : 19.10.2023.
Murari Lal (aged about 45 years) son of Sh. Ram Avtar @ Ramvtar son of Sh. Mohan Lal, resident of village Risaliakhera, Tehsil Dabwali, District Sirsa.
……Complainant.
Versus.
1. Canara Bank, Branch Panniwala Mota, District Sirsa through its Branch Manager.
2. Canara Bank, Regional Office: Kunjpura Road, Karnal- 132001 Haryana through its Regional Manager/ Authorized person.
3. ICICI Lombard General Insurance Co. Ltd. ABW Towers, Unit No. 511-512, 5th Floor, M.G. Road, Iffco Chowk, Gurugram- 122001 through M.D./ Authorized person.
...…Opposite parties.
Complaint under Section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986.
Before: SH. PADAM SINGH THAKUR ………………PRESIDENT
SMT. SUKHDEEP KAUR……………………MEMBER.
Present: Sh. Rakesh Pareek, Advocate for complainant.
Sh. Gurpreet Singh, Advocate for opposite parties No.1 and 2.
Sh. Rajesh Mehta, Advocate for opposite party no.3.
ORDER
The complainant has filed the present complaint under Section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 (after amendment u/s 35 of C.P. Act, 2019) against the opposite parties (hereinafter referred as OPs).
2. In brief, the case of complainant is that he is an agriculturist and is owner in possession of land measuring 69 kanals 17 marlas being 254/598 share out of land measuring 164 kanals 09 marlas comprised in Khewat No. 141 Khatuni No. 220 Kittas 21 situated in village Ramgarh, Sub Tehsil Goriwala, District Sirsa. He has also availed KCC facility from op no.1 bank. It is further averred that on 29.07.2017 premium amount of Rs.4761/- was debited from the account of complainant bearing no. 2050840002066 by op no.1 for insurance of his kharif crop of 2017 with op no.3 as per scheme of the Government of India namely Pardhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna. It is further averred that crop of cotton of complainant of kharif, 2017 was damaged to the extent of 100% due to natural calamities, pests/ diseases and draught and a report regarding loss of crops of farmers was prepared by Agriculture Department and was submitted to ops but none of the ops have paid any compensation to the complainant despite several requests and visits of the complainant. It is further averred that ops have refused to pay the claim to the complainant on the ground that his cotton crop has never been insured by them rather the paddy crop of complainant has been insured whereas actually complainant has been sowing crop of cotton in his land since beginning and this all happened due to mistake on the part of bank. That complainant has suffered loss of crop to the tune of Rs.2,62,000/- and is entitled to the said amount from ops besides compensation for harassment and mental agony. Hence, this complainant.
3. On notice, ops appeared. Ops no.1 and 2 filed written statement raising preliminary objections. It is submitted that as insurance premium amount of Rs.4761/- deducted from the account of complainant was remitted by answering op to op no.3 insurance company as per above said scheme. However, the op no.3 returned the said amount alongwith interest i.e. Rs.6895/- on 11.03.2020 which was duly credited in the account of account. So the insurance company did not pay any compensation to the complainant for the crop loss. Remaining contents of complaint are also denied to be wrong and prayer for dismissal of complaint qua op no.1 made.
4. Op no. 3 also filed written statement taking certain preliminary objections. It is submitted that complainant is claiming for cotton crop of village Ramgarh but the alleged loss to the crop was not covered. The insurance of farmer has been done on the basis of good faith and declaration made by banker of farmers and if any mistake is done by bank of complainant or other institution, insurance company cannot be held liable for claim amount and as such complaint is liable to be dismissed being not maintainable. Other preliminary objections regarding jurisdiction, non intimation, non submission of proof of loss or weather report, limited coverage as per scheme, yield basis claims are decided by Government, no survey no quanification of loss, no privity of contract and non impleading of necessary parties are also taken. It is also submitted that complainant admitted that he has sown crop in 2017-2018 and same has been affected in the year 2017. During said period there was no insurance of crop of said area with answering op, so complaint deserves dismissal on this score alone. On merits, it is also submitted that complainant has not provided or placed on record copy of insurance policy and in the absence of policy particulars like policy number, date of issuance and expiry and its insurance area, answering op cannot be held liable. It is further submitted that complainant has never intimated to op no.3 regarding loss of crop and till date no intimation has been received by answering op from complainant. The complainant has not filed any claim of crop loss occurred due to Heavy Rain Fall with op no.3 which is covered for loss under the scheme. Remaining contents of complaint are also denied to be wrong and prayer for dismissal of complaint qua op no.3 made.
5. The complainant in evidence has tendered his affidavit Ex.C1 and copies of documents i.e. jamabandi for the year 2016-2017 Ex.C2, khasra girdawari Ex.C3, statement of account Ex.C4, intimation regarding deduction of premium given by bank Ex.C5, report/ letter of Deputy Director Agriculture department, Sirsa Ex.C6, and pass books of Niranjan Kumar and Ram Avtar as Ex.C7 and Ex.C8.
6. On the other hand, ops no.2 and 3 have tendered affidavit of Sh. Ravi Branch Manager as Ex.RW1/A, copy of letter alongwith minutes of meeting Ex.R1 and statement of account Ex.R2.
7. OP no.3 did not lead any evidence despite availing various opportunities and as such evidence of op no.3 was closed by order.
8. We have heard learned counsel for the parties and have gone through the case file carefully.
9. The complainant is claiming insurance claim amount for the damage of his cotton crop of kharif, 2017 sown in 8.5 acres of land situated in village Ramgarh, District Sirsa. There is no dispute of the fact that premium amount of Rs.4761/- was deducted from the account of complainant on 29.07.2017 by op no.1 bank for insurance of his crop of kharif, 2017 which fact is also proved from statement of account of complainant placed on file by ops no.1 and 2 as Ex.R2. Though, ops no.1 and 2 have asserted that said premium amount was remitted to op no.3 insurance company for insurance of kharif crop of 2017 but however op no.3 insurance company has categorically asserted that there was no insurance of crop of said area. The ops no.1 and 2 have also failed to prove on record through any cogent and convincing evidence that said premium amount deducted from the account of complainant was remitted to op no.3 insurance company and ops no.1 and 2 have also failed to produce any document regarding transfer of the premium amount to op no.3. The ops no.1 and 2 have also not proved on record through any document/ entry that crop of complainant of kharif, 2017 was insured with op no.3. Though it is proved on record that an amount of Rs.6895/- including premium amount has been returned back to the complainant on 11.03.2020 i.e. after a long delay but ops no.1 and 2 have also failed to prove that op no.3 insurance company returned the said amount with interest i.e. Rs.6895/- to the complainant and it appears that as ops no.1 and 2 failed to get insured the crop of complainant with op no.3, therefore, op no.3 bank itself returned the said amount to the complainant after a long delay. During the course of arguments, learned counsel for complainant has also placed on file document of crop loan of the bank in which it has been declared by complainant that he will sow cotton crop in kharif season and therefore, complainant has been wrongly denied insurance claim of his cotton crop on the ground that his cotton crop was not insured. As such ops no.1 and 2 are liable to pay claim amount to the complainant for the damage, if any to the cotton crop of complainant of kharif, 2017. The complainant in order to prove loss to his cotton crop of kharif, 2017 has placed on file letter/ report of Deputy Agriculture department, Sirsa as Ex.C6 in which it is reported that the average yield of cotton crop of kharif, 2017 of village Ramgarh was 27.60 Kgs. per hectare and threshold yield of block Dabwali was 628.02 Kgs. per hectare and since the average yield of his village was less than from threshold yield of block as such it is proved on record that there was loss to the cotton crop of kharif, 2017 of complainant. The sum insured amount of cotton crop in 2017 was Rs.69,000/- per hectare. So as per formula given in the operational guidelines of PMFBY, the complainant is entitled to insurance claim amount of Rs.2,30,227/- for the loss of his cotton crop of kharif, 2017 in his 69 kanals 17 marlas of land which is equal to 3.49 hectares of land and ops no.1 and 2 bank only are liable to pay the said amount to the complainant. It is also proved on record that ops no.1 and 2 have caused unnecessary harassment to the complainant and have caused gross negligence and deficiency in service towards the complainant.
10. In view of our above discussion, we allow the present complaint qua opposite parties no.1 and 2 and direct them to pay the insurance claim amount of Rs.2,30,227/- to the complainant alongwith interest @6% per annum from the date of filing of present complaint i.e. 08.04.2019 till actual realization within a period of 45 days from the date of receipt of copy of this order, failing which the above said amount will carry interest @9% per annum for the default period. We also direct the ops no.1 and 2 to further pay a sum of Rs.20,000/- as compensation for harassment and Rs.10,000/- as litigation expenses to the complainant within above said stipulated period. However, complaint qua op no.3 insurance company stands dismissed. The ops no.1 and 2 are at liberty to deduct the premium amount from above said claim amount. A copy of this order be supplied to the parties as per rules. File be consigned to the record room.
Announced. Member President
Dt. 19.10.2023. District Consumer Disputes
Redressal Commission, Sirsa.
