BEFORE THE DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION, SIRSA.
Consumer Complaint no. 137 of 2020.
Date of Institution : 02.07.2020.
Date of Decision : 02.05.2024.
Surendar Singh aged about 34 years son of Shri Harjinder Singh @ Jinder Singh, resident of village Kuttabadh, Tehsil Ellenabad, District Sirsa.
……Complainant.
Versus.
1. ICICI Bank Limited, Branch Rania, District Sirsa, through its Branch Manager.
2. Agriculture Insurance Company of India Limited, Regional Office, Cabin No.7, 3rd Floor, Agro Mall, Sector-20, Panchkula, through its Regional Manager.
3. Deputy Director of Agriculture, Sirsa.
...…Opposite parties.
Complaint under Section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986.
Before: SH. PADAM SINGH THAKUR ………………PRESIDENT
MRS.SUKHDEEP KAUR……………………….MEMBER.
Present: Sh. R.K. Mehta, Advocate for complainants.
Sh. JBL Garg, Advocate for opposite party No.1.
Sh. A.S. Kalra, Advocate for opposite party no.2.
Sh. Satish Kumar, Statistical Assistant 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 Consumer Protection Act, 2019) against the opposite parties (hereinafter referred to as Ops).
2. In brief, the case of complainant is that he is an agriculturist and is owner in possession of land measuring 106 kanals 16 marlas ( as detailed in para no.2 of the complaint) situated in village Kuttabadh, Tehsil Ellenabad, District Sirsa as well as in village Rattakhera Tehsil Ellenabad, District Sirsa. In addition to above said land, complainant cultivated about 51 acres of land of Sh. Gurcharan Singh son of Sh. Maghar Singh, Smt. Surender Kaur wife of Shri Gurcharan Singh, Sh. Major Singh son of Shri Partap Singh, Sh. Jasvir @ Gulu son of Sh. Avtar Singh situated in village Kuttabadh on lease basis. The complainant had sown paddy crop in May, 2019 in above mentioned land. It is further averred that complainant raised crop loan under Kissan Credit Limited facility from op no.1 vide TSC Rapat No. 4439 dated 29.06.2017 against limit of Rs.36,45,000/- of his land and as per policy of the Government, the op no.1 got insured paddy crop under PMFBY with op no.2 and thereby debited a sum of Rs.340414.18 on 12.07.2019 in the account of complainant as crop insurance premium. Thus, the paddy crops of Kharif 2019 of village Kuttabadh and Rattakhera were insured by op no.1 with op no.2. It is further averred that said paddy crop of 2019 sown by complainant in the agriculture land of about 22 hectares situated in village Kuttabadh was destroyed due to climate conditions. The op no.3 surveyed the agriculture fields of this village and submitted its report to the ops no.1 and 2 and op no.2 thereafter settled the claim of the farmer and paid the amount of loss at the rate of Rs.12,700/- per acre but very strangely declined the complainant to pay insurance claim on the ground of no insurance due to not matching name in the aadhar card with name updated with bank record. That complainant sent email to the officers of ops no.1 and 2 and inquired about non payment of his insurance claim for the damaged paddy crops of village Kuttabadh and in response to mail, op no.2 intimated to complainant on 23.05.2020 by way of mail that “Your bank has not uploaded your data on the NCIP portal and thus you are not covered under Kharif 2019 season of PMFBY by your bank branch. We had refunded all the excess amount wrt ICCI Bank for Kharif 2019 season at our end well within time i.e. on 22.11.2019 since the NCIP portal was open for entries from banks till first week of November, 2019” and op no.1 intimated to complainant on 09.06.2020 by way of mail that “your name updated in bank record is not matching with aadhar card base, hence entry was not successful on portal and the premium debited for Kharif 2019 season has been refunded back to your Kisan credit card account on 01.06.2020” and refused to make the payment of claim to complainant. It is further averred that ground of not matching the name with aadhar card is wrong and incorrect as complainant availed the KCC limit since June, 2017 from op no.1 and thereafter op no.1 got insured the Rabi and Kharif crops of every year under PMFBY by debiting the amount in the account of complainant and for the loss of Rabi crop 2018 complainant has been paid crop insurance claim by the previous insurer Oriental Insurance Company Ltd. in the month of January, 2019. The op no.1 refunded the amount of premium in the account of complainant on 01.06.2020 in order to save itself and non uploading the correct data on NCIP portal by op no.1 is wrong and deficient act on the part of op no.1, however, till 09.06.2020 op no.1 never asked about not matching the name of complainant with aadhar card. That in this manner ops have committed gross deficiency in service towards the complainant and have caused severe loss and unnecessary harassment. Hence, this complaint.
3. On notice, ops appeared. Op no.1 filed written statement taking preliminary objections regarding maintainability, locus standi, suppression of true and material facts, complaint is hopelessly time barred and estoppal etc. On merits, it is submitted that all the loanee farmers are compulsorily required to sumit the aadhar number/ copy of aadhar card or authenticate themselves through aadhar enabled e-KYC alongwith mobile number for enrolment under the crop insurance before the prescribed cut off date as per the PMFBY guidelines point no. 35.9.2. The data entry in respect of the insurance premium was failed on portal due to name as per bank record not matching with aadhar data base of the complainant. The said fact was informed to the complainant to get his name updated in aadhar as per bank records. A SMS was also sent to complainant before beginning of season in June, 2019 and after entry was failed in September, 2019 but the complainant failed to do so. Therefore, his aadhar details on the portal could not be updated. The Bank had done data entry of accounts where farmers had updated/ provided their name as per aadhar when portal was reopened for entry in October, 2019. Insurance premium has been refunded to the KCC account on 01.06.2020. It is further submitted that claim processing and release of claims is done the respective crop insurance companies and therefore bank is not liable to pay claims in case of crop damage. That complainant may received compensation for Rabi crop 2018 but the aadhar card for kharif, 2019 was to be uploaded by the complainant as fully detailed above. The answering op had no role in uploading the aadhar number and completing e-KYC on the portal. 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 farmer’s crop was never insured with the answering op no.1 has not uploaded the data of the applicant on the National Crop Insurance Portal and thus the applicant was not covered for his crop under the Kharif 2019 season under PMFBY. The answering op had refunded all the excess amount w.r.t ICICI Bank for Kharif 2-19 season well within time on 22.11.2019 since the NCI Portal was open for entries from banks till first week of November, 2019. As the details of the applicant was not uploaded at the NCIP, the applicant/ complainant was not eligible for the insurance coverage under PMFBY during Kharif, 2019 season. It is further submitted that it is specifically mentioned in Para 17.2 of the revised operational guidelines of scheme that Banks are required to uploaded the insured farmers’ data mandatorily on the National Crop Insurance Portal and no other platform shall be used for uploading/ submission of farmers’ data. Those farmers whose data is uploaded on the NCIP shall only be eligible for insurance coverage and accordingly the premium subsidy will also be released. 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 payment of claims to them. As the Bank/ Intermediary has not uploaded the data on the NCIP, only the bank/ intermediary can be held liable for the compensation. It is further submitted that during kharif, 2019 season the answering op has already settled total claim amount of Rs. 264 crore to 1.07 lakh farmers as per provisions of PMFBY but as the details of the applicant was not uploaded at the NCIP, the applicant/ complainant was not eligible for the insurance coverage under PMFBY during kharif, 2019 season. With these averments, dismissal of complaint prayed for.
5. Op no.3 also filed written statement taking certain preliminary objections. It is submitted that only crop cutting experience report or report of survey of loss of crop is to be prepared by op no.3 and all other risks of coverage were to be finalized by the insurance company and there is no role of op no.3 in this regard. The yield basis claims are settled by insurance company only on completion of other necessary formalities as prescribed in operational guidelines of scheme which have already been given by op no.3 within specific time period and prayer for dismissal of complaint qua op no.3 made.
6. The complainant in evidence has tendered documents Ex.C1 to Ex.C13, his affidavit Ex.C14 and documents Ex.C15 to Ex.C17.
7. Op no.2 has tendered affidavit of Sh. Jaspal Singh Khurmi, Regional Manager as Ex.R1 and documents Ex.R2 to Ex.R11. OP no.3 has tendered affidavit of Sh. Sukhdev Singh, Deputy Director of Agriculture, Sirsa as Ex.RW3/A and documents Ex.RW3/1 and Ex.RW3/2. Op no.3 only placed on file affidavit of Kulwinder Singh Manager but did not exhibit the same.
8. We have heard learned counsel for the parties, SA for op no.3 and have gone through the case file.
9. In so far as loss to the paddy crop of complainant in village Kuttabadh, Tehsil Ellenabad, District Sirsa is concerned, the op no.3 has placed on file report of Deputy Director Agriculture and Farmer Welfare department Sirsa as Ex.RW3/2 according to which the average yield of paddy crop of village Kuttabadh in Kharif, 2019 was 2165.36 Kgs. per hectare whereas threshold yield of block Ellenabad was 3636.54 Kgs. per hectare. Since the average yield of village remained less than threshold yield of block Ellenabad, so as per operational guidelines of PMFBY, there was also loss to the paddy crop of complainant in Kharif, 2019. Although op no.2 insurance company has claimed that data of complainant was not available on the NCI portal i.e. op no.1 bank has not uploaded the data of complainant on NCIP but from document Ex.C16 i.e. three entries uploaded on portal it is evident that although op no.1 bank uploaded the data of complainant vide three entries on the portal for total 21.86 hectare of land but the data uploaded by bank on the portal is partial data and as such premium amount was refunded back in the account of complainant on 01.06.2020. In this regard op no.1 bank has taken the plea that data entry in respect of the insurance premium was failed on portal due to name as per Bank record not matching with aadhar card base of complainant but we found no substance in the said plea of op no.1 bank because as per statement of account Ex.C12, the name of complainant is mentioned in the account as Surendar Singh and name of complainant in his aadhar card (copy Ex.C13) his name is also mentioned as Surendar Singh and so it appears that entry of data of complainant on the portal was not successful due to some other lapses/ mistake on the part of op no.1 bank in uploading his data on portal. No other reason has been pointed out by op no.1 bank for unsuccessful entry of data of complainant on portal and it is not proved on record by op no.1 bank that complainant was ever asked about any correction of his data so that his data could be uploaded on the portal. Since the entry of data of complainant was not successful on portal, so insurance company refunded back the premium amount of complainant in his account due to mistake on the part of op no.1 bank as his data was not correctly uploaded by op no.1 bank on the portal. As such op no.1 bank is liable to pay insurance claim amount to the complainant for the loss of his paddy crop of Kharif, 2019. The sum insured amount of paddy crop in Kharif 2019 in Sirsa District was Rs.77,800/- per hectare as is evident from Haryana Govt. notification dated 24.05.2019 Ex.RW3/1. So as per formula given in the operational guidelines of PMFBY, the complainant is entitled to insurance claim amount of Rs.6,92,238/- from op no.1 bank for the loss of his paddy crop of Kharif, 2019 in his 21.86 hectares of land because as per clause 17.2 of the operational guidelines of PMFBY in case where farmers are denied crop insurance due to incorrect/ partial/ non uploading of their details on portal, concerned banks/ intermediaries shall be responsible for payment of claims to them.
10. In view of our above discussion, we allow the present complaint qua op no.1 bank and direct the op no.1 bank to pay insurance claim amount of Rs.6,92,238/- 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 above said amount of Rs.6,92,238/- from op no.1 bank alongwith interest at the rate of @6% per annum from the date of this order till actual payment. We also direct the op no.1 bank to further pay a sum of Rs.10,000/- as compensation and Rs.5000/- as litigation expenses to the complainant within above said period. However, complaint qua remaining ops no.2 and 3 stands dismissed. A copy of this order be supplied to the parties as per rules. File be consigned to the record room.
Announced: Member President
Dt. 02.05.2024. District Consumer Disputes
Redressal Commission, Sirsa.
