J U D G M E N T
Smt. Sarita Tripathy , Member - This is the complaint under section 12 of C.P Act filed by the parents of the deceased son insured under OP insurance company with the following prayer on 20.6.14.
1 To pay them the amount of Rs.34,468/- with interest from the date of accident which was expended for repair of the said vehicle Bajaj Pulsar being Regd. No. OD- 25- 5239.
2 To pay them compensation amounting to Rs.50,000/- towards harassment, mental agony, financial agony and deficiency of service.
3 To pay them litigation expenses of Rs.10000/-
The case of complainant in short is that the owner of Bajaj Pulsar vehicle bearing Regd. No.OD 25 – 5239 got the vehicle insured under OP vide policy No.163203/31/13/6200000431. The owner Gouranga Bisoi is the son of complainant. The insurance was in force from 24..4.2013 to 23.4.2014. On 04.12.2013 at 10 PM near Lenkudipada the deceased Gouranga faced an accident while he was returning in his motorcycle and expired at the spot, the motor cycle was damaged. A criminal case was registered at Nayagarh Police Station bearing No.323 darted 04.12.2013. The matter was informed to the OP insurer and on their advise the motorcycle was repaired at Bajaj Service, College Road Nayagarh, and the amount of expenditure was Rs.34,468/-, the complainant claimed the amount furnishing bill on 03.2.2014. The OP insurer returned the bill on 22.4.2014. This deficiency of service has resulted in to harassment for which the complainant is filed with above prayer.
The complainant has filed the original money receipts and photocopy of postmortem report and R.C .Book and insurance policy.
The OP filed written version questioning the cause of action and locustandi of the complainant, the OP has admitted the complainant's case substantially but has taken plea for not furnishing documents by complainant to settle the claim. It is apposite to extract the relevant portion of the Ops written version to consider his plea para 4, 5, 8, and 11 of written version:
Para - 4 :- That this OP admits that the vehicle bearing Regd. No. OD-25-5239 was insured under him subject to the terms, conditions, exception and limitation, there of and the confirmation of the compliance of sec.64 V B of the insurance Act 1938. Insurance is a contract between the insurer and insured . Both the parties are bound to obey the terms and conditions of the contract. If any party of contract violates the conditions of the contract so that the other party is not bound to obey his part of his contract.
Para - 5 :- That the Deva Prasad Bisoi, the elder brother of deceased / insured of the vehicle bearing Regd. No. OD-25-5239 coming the office of the National Insurance Co. Ltd., Nayagarh on dated 21.1.2014 oriented a application along with a motor claim intimation letter regarding the accident of his younger brother Gouranga Bisoi on dated 04.12.13 at about 10.30 P.M. Near village Lenkudipada on PWD Road and his younger brother died on the spot ;and the motorcycle was damaged. As because the Motor cycle was damaged in the accident the company has to indemnify the loss.
Para - 8 :- That the present complainant have not come at any point of time to the office of the National Insurance Co. Ltd. regarding this matter . It is totally false to say that at any point of time the OPP. Party does not advice the petitioner tat after submission of bills , the company will disburse the bill amount.
Para - 11 :- That now your honour may kindly be given a written order to the petitioners to submit the documents in the office of the opposite party to settle the claim as per law and if the office of Opp. party will not settle the claim as per law after submission of relevant documents then you will came to the requirement of this Forum.
Both the parties have filed affidavit evidence and written brief.
The point for determination are :
1. Whether the complainant have lacustgandi to maintain this proceeding ?
2. Whether there is any deficiency in service on the part of OP insurer in settling the claim of complaint.?
Ans to point No.1 : In absence of any dispute the present complaints are the parents of the deceased vehicle owner, it can be said that they are legal representative of son Gouranga Bisoi who was a consumer under OP for the insurance in respect of vehicle bearing No. OD-25-5239 . This position in clear from the definition of the complaint given under section 2(i)(b)(V) of C.P Act which provides that In case of death of a consumer, his legal heir or representative who or which makes a complaint. Resultantly both the complainants have locusstandi to file this complaint.
Ans to point No.2 : There being no dispute regarding the validity of insurance, death of complainant by accident. It is to be seen as to whether any deficiency in service to settle the dispute has been caused by insurer OP . In order to know the real dispute we have already extracted the written version of the OP in this order. It is clear that OP insurer wants to settle the claim on the submission of documents in the office. The complaints have not shown any prove that they had filed all required documents before the OP . In written argument para 8 the complainant just denied such allegation of the OP. Thus it is seen, the fault is attributed by both each other for not getting the claim settled and the fault is non submission of relevant documents like driving license its.
In our considered opinion in absence of any proof the complainants have filed such documents, a direction is to be given to put forth such claim before insurer could serve the purpose. Accordingly the insuror OP would be directed to settle the claim on receipt of required documents with in a stipulated time. Hence we order :
ORDER
The complainants are directed to submit the required documents before the OP within 15 days from date of this order and the OP is directed to settle the claim within one month from receipt of the documents, filling which it shall carry the interest @ 9% on the claim amount. The complainant shall forfeit their claim if they fail to submit the required documents within the specified period as stated above.
The final order is prepared by us, corrected,
signed, sealed and pronounced in the open
Forum on this 28th October , 2014.
