Haryana

Karnal

CC/121/2022

Janpal - Complainant(s)

Versus

HDFC Standard Life Insurance Company Limited - Opp.Party(s)

Manjeet Kamboj

09 Feb 2024

ORDER

BEFORE THE PRESIDENT, DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION KARNAL.

 

                                                Complaint No.121 of 2022

                                                Date of Inst: 10.03.2022

                                                Date of Decision: 09.02.2024

 

Janpal, aged 60 years son of Shri Balkar Singh, resident of H.No.455, Near Malwada, Village Jundla, District Karnal (Aadhar No.9190 7742 3460),

 

…….  Complainant

Versus

1.     HDFC Standard Life Insurance Company Limited, 11^th Floor,Lodha Excellus, Apollo Mills Compound, N.M.Joshi Road, Mahaluxmi, Mumbai 400 011 through its Authorised signatory.

2.     HDFC Standard Life Insurance Company Limited, through its Branch Manager, Sector-12, Opposite Mini Secretariat, Karnal.  

                                                                 …… Opposite parties

 

Complaint Under Section 35 of Consumer Protection Act, 2019.

 

 

Before:    Shri Jaswant Singh…………President

                Sh.Vineet Kaushik……….Member

                Dr.Suman Singth…………Member

 

 

Argued by: Shri Manjeet Kamboj, counsel for complainant

                 Shri Vikas Bakshi, counsel for the OPs.

 

                (Jaswant Singh President)

 

 

ORDER:

 

                The complainant has filed the present complaint under Section 35 of Consumer Protection Act, 2019 against the Opposite parties (hereinafter referred as the ‘Ops’) on the averments that complainant had purchased a policy No.20440042 on 01.06.2018 for seven years and paid annual premium to the tune of Rs.1,00,000/-. Complainant deposited four installments with the Op No.2 i.e. first installment of Rs.1,00,000/- and other three installments of Rs.98,20/- totaling Rs.2,94,060/-, thereafter, complainant had to surrender the said policy due to some unavoidable circumstances but the OP No.2 only paid an amount of Rs.1,72,000/- on 04.01.2022, whereas the complainant had deposited an amount of Rs.2,94,060/-. Due to the said act of the Ops, the complainant has suffered great mental pain, agony and harassment and financial loss.  The OP and its official did not disclose anything about the fate of the said policy and amount of compensation of aforesaid policy, despite her request and visit. There is clear deficiency in service and unfair trade practice on the part of the OPs. Hence, the present complaint.

2.             On notice, OPs appeared and filed their joint written version and raised preliminary objections regarding maintainability, suppression of true and material facts, jurisdiction etc. On merits, it is pleaded that complainant had purchased life insurance policy i.e. HDFC Life Classic Assure Plus plan having policy term of seven years. The complainant had applied for surrender of the policy and on receiving the request, after calculating the surrender value as per terms and conditions, an amount of Rs.1,79,284.25/- was paid to the complainant on 31.12.2021 through NEFT. The complainant never visited the office of OPs. Even if the complainant visited, he was made to understand that the policy has been surrendered and the surrender value has already been paid to him. There is no deficiency in service and unfair trade practice on the part of the OPs. The other allegations made in the complaint have been denied and prayed for dismissal of the complaint.

3.             Parties then led their respective evidence.

4.             Learned counsel for the complainant has tendered into evidence affidavit of complainant Ex.CW1/A, copy of bank statement Ex.C1, copy of Aadhar Card Ex.C2, copy of fixed deposit summary Ex.C3 and closed the evidence on 21.09.2022 by suffering separate statement.

5.             Learned counsel for the OPs have tendered into evidence affidavit of Gurpreet Singh, Manager Ex.RW1/A, proposal form Ex.OP1, copy of addendum to proposal form Ex.OP2, copy of speed post tracking letter Ex.OP3, copy of policy procedure Ex.OP4, copy of payment details Ex.OP5 and copy of authority letter Ex.OP6 and closed the evidence on 06.07.2023 by suffering separate  statement.

6.             We have heard the learned counsel of the parties and perused the case file carefully and have also gone through the evidence led by the parties.

7.             Learned counsel for complainant, while reiterating the contents of the complaint, has vehemently argued that complainant had purchased HDFC Life Classic Assure Plus policy for seven years and paid first annual premium to the tune of Rs.1,00,000/- and other three premium to the tune of Rs.98,20/- but due to some unavoidable circumstances, the complainant had surrendered the said policy but after surrender, the OPs paid only an amount of Rs.1,72,000/-, whereas the complainant had paid an amount of Rs.2,94,060/- to the OPs. Despite repeated requests, the Ops did not pay the remaining amount, hence, there is deficiency in service on the part of OPs and lastly prayed for allowing the complaint.

8.             Per contra, learned counsel for the OPs, while reiterating the contents of written version, has vehemently argued that complainant had purchased HDFC Life Classic Assure Plus plan having policy term of seven years. The complainant had applied for surrender of the policy and on receiving the request, after calculating the surrender value as per terms and conditions, an amount of Rs.1,79,284.25/- was paid to the complainant on 31.12.2021 through NEFT. Hence, There is no deficiency in service and unfair trade practice on the part of the OPs and lastly prayed for dismissal of the complaint.

9.             We have duly considered the rival contentions of the parties.

10.           Admittedly, the complainant purchased HDFC Life Classic Assure Plus plan having policy term of seven years from the OPs and having first installment of Rs.1,00,000/- and thereafter annual premium of Rs.98020/- and date of maturity of the policy is 01.06.2033. It is also admitted that the complainant had paid four annual premium to the OPs to the tune of total Rs.3,94,060/-. It is also admitted that the complainant had applied for surrender of his policy after depositing the fourth year annual premium and OPs had paid an amount of Rs.1,79,284.25 to the complainant.

11.           The complainant has alleged that the OPs have not paid Rs.3,94,060/- which was deposited by him, rather paid only an amount of Rs.1,79,284/-. On the other hand, OPs have alleged that the complainant himself surrendered his policy and guaranteed surrender value has been paid to the complainant.

12.           Both the parties relied upon the Addendum proposal for Ex.OP1. The clause “illustrative benefits on surrender” of policy mentioned in the document Ex.OP1, is reproduced as under:-

	Guaranteed benefit	Non-Guaranteed Benefit		Total surrender benefit
		Assumed investment return		Assumed investment return
Policy year	Guaranteed surrender value	4% p.a.	8% p.a.	4% p.a.	8% p.a.
2	53965	7400	7400	61365	61365
3	81193	16841	16841	98034	98034
4	179055	0	0	179055	179055
5	224404	0	0	224404	224404
6	270057	0	0	270057	270057
7	316132	0	0	316132	316132
8	354333	661	1322	354994	355655
9	386536	1521	3042	388057	389578
10	425065	2615	5230	427680	430295
11	463921	4025	8050	467946	471971
12	502941	5763	11525	508704	514467
13	536209	7968	15936	544177	552145
14	575966	10689	21377	586655	597344

 

13.           The complainant has surrendered his policy in the fourth year and as per guaranteed surrender value, the complainant was entitled only for Rs.1,79,055/- and the OPs had paid the said amount after calculating the surrender value as per the terms and conditions of the policy. Thus, there is no deficiency in service and unfair trade practice on the part of OPs.

14.           Thus, as a sequel of above discussion, the present complaint is devoid of merits and deserves to be dismissed and same is hereby dismissed. The parties concerned be communicated of the order accordingly and the file be consigned to the record room after due compliance.

 

Dated: 09.02.2024                            

                                                                  President,

                                                     District Consumer Disputes

                                                     Redressal Commission, Karnal.

 

(Vineet Kaushik)        (Dr. Suman Singh)

                           Member                          Member