Complainants Gurpreet Singh etc. through the present complaint filed under Section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 (for short, ‘the Act’) have prayed that the opposite parties be directed to release the insurance claim of their mother amounting to Rs.90,000/- alongwith interest at the rate of 24% Per Annum from the date of due till its actual realization. They have also claimed Rs.50,000/- as compensation for the mental agony and physical harassment suffered by them including litigation expenses, all in the interest of justice.
The case of the complainants in brief is that their mother namely Smt.Sawaran Kaur had purchased a insurance policy from the opposite party No.1 bearing Policy No.473413035 dated 20.9.2012 amounting to Rs.90,000/-. It was pleaded that the mother of the complainants had deposited all the installments of the said policy during her life time with the opposite party No.1. She died on 1.11.2014 and information regarding the same was given to the opposite party No.1 and also completed all the formalities of the opposite parties for obtaining the amount of insurance claim. It was pleaded that complainant many times requested the opposite parties to pay the insurance claim of their mother but they linger on the matter with one pretext or the other. It was further pleaded that the above said act and conduct of the opposite parties is illegal, null and void. Opposite parties are bound to pay the insurance claim of the mother of the complainants alongwith interest at the rate of 24% Per Annum. It was also pleaded that complainants have approached the opposite parties and requested them to admit their claim but they refused to do so. It was next pleaded that due the above said act and conduct of the opposite parties complainants have suffered great mental agony and physical harassment, hence this complaint.
3. Upon notice, the opposite parties have appeared through their counsel and filed the written reply by taking the preliminary objections that Smt.Swaran Kaur wife of Sh.Gurbachan Singh had purchased a policy bearing No.473413035 for a sum of Rs.90,000/- with the half yearly mode of premium with the date of commencement 28.9.2012 from the Branch Office-I, Batala and as per the record of the Corporation the premium was due on 28.3.2014 and policy holder had expired on 1.11.2014. As such policy had been lapsed and complainant is not entitled for the assured amount as at the date of death of the deceased life assured the policy was in lapsed condition and as such no claim is payable as the policy was not in force and the complaint is liable to be dismissed. The complaint filed by the complainant against the opposite parties is hopelessly pre-mature as no intimation regarding the alleged death of the deceased life assured was received by the opposite parties and as such the complaint is prima-facie liable to be dismissed. The complainant is debarred to file the instant complaint due to her own act and conduct. The complainant had neither intimated the alleged death of the assured to the opposite parties nor did he ever lodged the death claim under policy No.473413035. In the instant case policy in question was lapsed at the date of death of the life assured, hence the claim under the policy is not payable. The complainant was estopped to file the instant complaint as there was no deficiency in service on the part of the opposite parties. The complaint of the complainant is bad for mis-joinder or non-joinder for all the necessary parties. On merits, it was stated that deceased life assured had purchased a policy bearing No.473413035 for a Sum Assured of Rs.90,000/- with the half yearly mode of premium with the date of commencement 28.9.2012 from the Branch Office-I, Batala. It was denied that the deceased life assured i.e. mother of the complainants deposited all the installments with the opposite party No.1 during her life time. As per the record of the Corporation only three premiums were paid by the deceased life assured and premium was due on 28.3.2014 and policy holder had expired on 1.11.2014 and as such policy in question was lapsed at the time of death of the deceased and the death was taken place even after the expiry of the one month grace period. It was stated that complainant never lodged the claim with the opposite parties. It was further stated that the refusal of the replying opposite parties to pay the claim is not illegal, null and void as it is under the provisions of law and under the terms and conditions of the policy in question. It was denied that the opposite parties are bound to pay the insurance claim alongwith interest @ 24% P.A. as alleged in this para. It was also stated that the present complaint is false, frivolous, baseless, vexatious and without any merits. All other averments made in the complaint have been denied. Lastly, the complaint has been prayed to be dismissed with litigation costs and any other relief, which the opposite parties are found entitled under the law.
Complainant tendered into evidence his own affidavit Ex.C1 alongwith other documents Ex.C2 to Ex.C5 and closed the evidence.
5. Counsel for opposite parties tendered into evidence affidavit of Joginder Singh Sisodia Manager Legal Ex.OP-1 and copy of status report of policy Ex.OP-2 and closed the evidence on behalf of opposite parties.
We have examined all the documents/evidence produced on record and have also duly considered and perused the arguments duly put forth by the learned counsels for both the sides, while adjudicating the present complaint. We find that the complainants have failed to produce any ‘evidence’ on record of their having filed the ‘death-claim’ with the OP insurers as such there has been no ‘cause of action’ to file the present complaint. Further, the OP insurers have filed the ‘status-report’ Ex.OP2 on the records of the proceedings proving that the policy premium has been overdue since 03/2014 and as such the related policy has not been in force as on the date of death (01.11.2014) of the DLA (Deceased Life Assured).
Under the circumstances, any further adjudication shall not serve any fruitful purpose and thus we are of the considered opinion that the present complaint shall be best disposed of by directing the complainants to file the policy ‘claim’ in the desired order along with complete documents etc to the OP insurers who shall decide/settle the same in accordance with the terms of the related policy and convey the decision to the complainants within 45 days of the receipt of the same. The parties shall bear their own expenses, here.
8. Copy of the order be communicated to the parties free of charges. After compliance, file be consigned to record.
(Naveen Puri)
President.
ANNOUNCED: (Jagdeep Kaur)
DEC. 21, 2015 Member.
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