BEFORE THE DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION, SIRSA.
Consumer Complaint no. 193 of 2020.
Date of Institution : 01.09.2020.
Date of Decision : 06.02.2024.
Godawari Devi aged about 60 years wife of Shri Mahender Partap, resident of village Fatehpuria, Tehsil Rania, District Sirsa now resident of H. No. 15/ 470, Bhagat Singh Colony, Sirsa, Tehsil and District Sirsa.
……Complainant.
Versus.
1. Central Bank of India, Rania Branch, Rania Tehsil Rania, District Sirsa through its Branch Manager.
...…Opposite party.
Complaint under Section 35 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.
Before: SH. PADAM SINGH THAKUR ………………PRESIDENT
SMT. SUKHDEEP KAUR……………………MEMBER.
SH. OM PARKASH TUTEJA………………….MEMBER
Present: Sh. S.N. Grover, Advocate for complainant.
Sh. M.S. Sethi, Advocate for opposite party.
ORDER:-
The case of complainant is that she is an agriculturist and is owner in possession of land measuring 56 kanals 15 marlas comprised in khewat no. 102 khatuni no. 470 situated in village Fatehpuria Niyamatkhan, District Sirsa as per jamaandi for the year 2017-18 and has availed KCC facility from op bank on her above said land through account no. 3323751483. That op bank has been deducted the amount of premium from the above bank account of complainant regularly for insurance of her crops under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna. That complainant had sown paddy crop during kharif, 2019 in her above said land and also deposited proposal application for insurance of her aforesaid crop and op promised her that her crop will be insured. It is further averred that crop of kharif, 2019 of her village including her crop was damaged on account of natural calamities and she came to know that insurance company has awarded Rs.12,000/- per acre to the farmers whose crops have been damaged. The complainant also contacted bank authorities in this regard but she was surprised to know that amount of insurance premium has not been deducted from her account by Sandeep Kumar concerned clerk of the bank knowingly and intentionally and her crops have not been insured under the scheme of the Government however in the year 2019 for crop of Rabi, 2020 the premium amount of insurance i.e. Rs.2677/- has been deducted from the account of complainant. That thereafter on 18.05.2020 husband of complainant moved an application to the bank authorities in this regard but no action has been taken by the bank authorities nor any satisfactory reply has been given and this amounts to gross negligence of service and deficiency in service on the part of bank and its official. It is further averred that complainant is legally entitled to get the claim of her damaged crop at the rate of Rs.12,000/- per acre from the op bank and agriculture work is the only source of her livelihood. That on her second application under RTI, the op bank has wrongly and deliberately replied that no proposal form was submitted by complainant with the bank for the crops of kharif, 2019 and the act and conduct on the part of bank clearly amounts to deficiency in service and unfair trade practice on account of which complainant has suffered unnecessary harassment as well as financial loss. Hence, this complaint.
2. On notice, op bank appeared and filed written statement raising certain preliminary objections. On merits, it is submitted that an amount of Rs.558.70 had been debited from the account of complainant on 03.09.2017 as premium for insurance of crops of kharif, 2017 but at that time complainant strongly opposed and stated that in future no amount of insurance premium is to be debited. Hence no amount of premium was deducted for kharif, 2018, rabi 2019 and kharif, 2019. However, when she received insurance claim for the crop of kharif 2017 then she asked the bank official for further insurance of crop. After that bank officials started debiting the amount from the account of complainant as insurance premium. It is further submitted that complainant has denied to insure her crop and now complainant has concocted false and vague story only to grab the compensation from op bank. Remaining contents of complaint are also denied to be wrong and prayer for dismissal of complaint made.
3. The complainant in evidence has tendered her affidavit Ex.CW1/A and documents Ex.C1 to Ex.C15.
4. On the other hand, op bank has tendered affidavit of Sh. Rahul Kumar, Branch Manager and Principal Officer as Ex.R1 and statement of account Ex.R2.
5. We have heard learned counsel for the parties and have gone through the case file carefully.
6. The complainant has claimed insurance claim amount for the damage of her paddy crop of kharif, 2019 in her 56 kanals 15 marlas of land situated in village Fatehpuria Niyamatkhan, District Sirsa from op bank. The op bank has asserted that after insurance of kharif crop of 2017 of complainant, the complainant strongly opposed the deduction of premium from her account and asked the op bank not to deduct any premium amount from her account for insurance of her crops, hence no amount of premium was deducted for kharif, 2018, rabi 2019 and kharif, 2019 and as such her crop of kharif, 2019 was not insured. However, the op bank has not proved on record through any cogent and convincing evidence that complainant herself denied for insurance of her paddy crop of kharif, 2019. If the complainant was not willing for insurance of her crops, the bank should have obtained her option/ consent in this regard on the prescribed form but op bank has failed to do so. Moreover, the insurance of crops of loanee farmers was mandatory as per Prime Minister Fasal Beema Yojna and bank has to compulsorily insure the crops of loanee farmers. Since there is nothing on file to prove that complainant herself denied for insurance of her paddy crop of kharif, 2019, so op bank is deficient in service for not insuring the paddy crop of kharif, 2019. In so far as loss to the paddy crop of kharif, 2019 of complainant is concerned, the complainant has placed on file letter/ report of Agriculture department, Sirsa as Ex.C6 containing four pages and as per this report the average yield of paddy crop in kharif, 2019 in village Fatehpuria was 1993.40 Kgs. per hectare whereas threshold yield of block Rania was 3373.38 Kgs. per hectare and as such as per operational guidelines of PMFBY, there was loss to the paddy crop in village Fatehpuria. So it is proved on record that there was loss to the paddy crop of complainant in kharif, 2019 also. The sum insured amount of paddy crop in 2019 was Rs.77,800/- as is evident from Haryana Govt. notification dated 24.05.2019 placed on file. Though as per formula given in the operational guidelines of PMFBY, the claim amount comes to Rs.90,387/- for loss of paddy crop in 56 kanals 15 marlas of land which is equal to 2.84 hectares of land but complainant has claimed that other farmers have been given claim amount at the rate of Rs.12,000/- per acre and thus complainant is entitled to claim amount of Rs.85,800/- from op bank for the loss of her paddy crop of kharif, 2019.
7. In view of our above discussion, we allow the present complaint against op bank and direct the op bank to pay the claim amount of Rs.85,800/- to the complainant 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.85,800/- from op bank alongwith interest at the rate of @6% per annum from the date of this order till actual payment. We also direct the op bank to further pay a sum of Rs.5,000/- as composite compensation for harassment and litigation expenses to the complainant within above said stipulated period. 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: 06.02.2024. District Consumer Disputes
Redressal Commission, Sirsa
