BEFORE THE DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES
REDRESSAL FORUM, JALANDHAR.
Complaint No.244 of 2016
Date of Instt. 07.06.2016
Date of Decision :03.01.2017
Harjit Kaur age 29 years W/o S. Surjit Singh, R/o V.P.O. Maksudpur, Tehsil Bholath, District Kapurthala.
..........Complainant
Versus
M/s Mobile House, H.O. Chadha Mobile House Pvt. Ltd., Phagwara Gate, Near Bhagat Singh Chowk, Jalandhar, through its Prop./Partner.
M/s Leehan Retails Pvt. Ltd., SSP Saphire Plaza, Pune Airport Road, Near Symbiosis College, Pune-411014, through its authorized representative/M.D.
.........Opposite parties
Complaint Under Consumer Protection Act.
Before: Sh. Karnail Singh, (President),
Sh.Parminder Sharma (Member)
Present: Sh. Anuj Mehta, Adv. Counsel for complainant.
Opposite Party No. 1 and 2 exparte.
Order
Karnail Singh (President)
1. The instant complaint presented by complainant, wherein alleged that the complainant purchased a mobile set make “Apple I Phone i6” (64GB) bearing No.359312067557120 from opposite party No.1 on 29.07.2015 for an amount of Rs.55,000/- inclusive of taxes. At the time of purchasing the said mobile phone from the opposite party No.1, the representatives of opposite party No.2, who was already present in the said shop of opposite party No.1 started insisting the complainant to get the mobile set insured from their company and they also told that they will provide their best service to the complainant in case of any loss or damage of above said mobile phone. As per their assurance, complainant get his mobile phone insured from them by paying extra charges to them for insurance, vide policy No.78732020.
2. That on 31.01.2015, complainant alongwith her husband went to attend a marriage function at Rangla Punjab, Near Haveli, G.T. Road, Jalandhar Phagwara Bye-Pass, within a jurisdiction of P.S. Sadar Phagwara. She had handed over the above said mobile set to her husband to kept it in the pocket of his coat and about 11:00 PM in the night, the complainant found that the mobile set has got stolen by some unknown persons from the pocket of her husband. To this effect, applicant moved an application to the Chowki Incharge, Chaheru on 01.02.2016 and upon this application of the complainant, the police went to the spot and prepared site plan and lodged FIR bearing No.153 under Section 379-B of IPC. The complainant thereafter immediately informed regarding the occurrence to the opposite party No.2 and also filed the claim form on 03.02.2016 and also deposited all the requisite documents as required by opposite party. Inspite of passing of sufficient time, the opposite party failed to settle the claim of the complainant and thereby causing great harassment to complainant. Immediately, legal notice dated 22.02.2016 was also served to the opposite parties but they did not appear and necessity arose to file the complaint and further prayed that the opposite parties may be directed to refund the amount of mobile alongwith compensation of Rs.30,000/- for harassment and mental agony and litigation expenses to the tune of Rs.10,000/-.
3. Notice of the complaint was given to opposite parties but despite service, both the opposite parties did not come present and ultimately, they were proceeded against exparte.
4. In order to prove her exparte claim, the learned counsel for the complainant tendered into evidence affidavit of the complainant Ex.CA and some documents Ex.C1 retail invoice bill dated 29.07.2015, Ex. C2 Insurance Card, Ex.C3 complaint to the police, Ex.C4 report of police, Ex.C5 Site Plan, Ex.C6 report of police, Ex.C7 address of OP No.2 and Ex.C8 Legal Notice, Ex.C9 and Ex.C10 postal receipts , Ex.C11 repudiation e-mail by OP No.2 and closed his evidence.
5. We have heard the learned counsel for the complainant and also scanned the file very minutely.
6. In nutshell the case set up by the complainant is that she purchased a mobile set make “Apple I Phone i6” for an amount of Rs.55,000/- from opposite party No.1 and it was got insured by OP No.2 through its representative i.e. OP No.1 and thereafter the mobile phone of the complainant was stolen while it was in the custody of the husband of the complainant and to that effect the matter was referred to police by submitting an application Ex.C3 and accordingly the police proceedings Ex.C4 and site plan prepared by officials of police Ex.C5 and zimni order of the police officials are Ex.C6 and thereafter the complainant submitted a claim to OP No.2 for making payment of the insure of the price of the said mobile but the claim of the complainant was repudiated by OP No.2 vide letter Ex.C11 dated 21.09.2016 simply on the ground that the mobile is lost and there is no forceful and violent act is involved as the phone was not in the custody of the customer at the time of loss. Hence not covered under the policy and accordingly claim was rejected. The complainant alleged that the said repudiation letter Ex.C11 is illegal because there is no term and condition in the insurance policy and original insurance policy was submitted to the OP No.2 at the time of submitting the claim and as such the complainant has brought on the file insurance card Ex.C2. We find that the claim of the complainant is not contested by the OPs despite knowingly that the complainant has filed a consumer complaint even than OPs did not bother to contest the complaint of the complainant and as such the allegations made by the complainant in the complaint remains un-rebutted and un-challenged because the OP has not contested the said complaint. So, under these circumstances we find that the claim of the complainant is illegally, arbitrary rejected by the OP whereas the complainant is entitled for the claim i.e. price of the mobile set alongwith compensation and litigation expenses.
7. In the light of above discussion, the complaint of the complainant is exparte partly accepted and opposite parties are directed to refund the price of the mobile set i.e. Rs.55,000/- with compensation of Rs.4000/- and litigation expenses of Rs.2000/-. The entire compliance be made within one month from the date of receipt of copy of order, failing which the complainant will entitled to get interest on the above whole amount @ 9% from the date of filing complaint till realization. Complaint could not be decided within stipulated time frame due to rush of work.
8. Copies of the order be supplied to the parties free of cost, as per Rules. File be indexed and consigned to the record room
Dated Parminder Sharma Karnail Singh
03.01.2017 Member President
