BEFORE THE DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION, SIRSA.
Consumer Complaint no. 147 of 2020
Date of Institution : 16.07.2020.
Date of Decision : 28.08.2024.
Karam Singh, aged about 52 years son of Shri Kartar Singh, resident of village Rajpura, Tehsil and District Sirsa.
……Complainant.
Versus.
The New India Assurance Company Limited, Head Office, 87, M.G. Road, Fort, Mumbai- 400001, Branch Office, situated Near Bus Stand, Sirsa, District Sirsa, through its Branch Manager.
...…Opposite party.
Complaint under Section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986.
Before: SH. PADAM SINGH THAKUR …………PRESIDENT
SMT. SUKHDEEP KAUR………………MEMBER.
Present: Sh. Hardeep Singh, Advocate for complainant.
Sh. R.K. Bajaj, Advocate for opposite party.
ORDER
The complainant has filed the present complaint under Section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 (after amendment u/s 35 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019) against the opposite party (hereinafter referred as OP).
2. In brief, the case of the complainant is that he was owner of one cow of the age of about four years breed Sahiwal who was healthy and used to give 10 Kgs. milk for two times. The said cow was insured by op vide insurance health certificate no. 147191 and policy number 31270047190400000415 for the period 14.09.2019 to 13.09.2020 and tag no. 160044-927965 was also installed to the cow. The insured value of the cow was assessed as Rs.40,000/- and he had paid premium of Rs.596/- to the op. It is further averred that complainant is an agriculturist and used to sell milk of said cow. The cow of complainant fell ill and died on 26.09.2019. The post mortem of cow was conducted by the Veterinary Surgeon, Govt. Veterinary Hospital, Sirsa vide PMR No. 6185 dated 26.09.2019 and according to the opinion of the doctor, the animal might be died due to tympany and asphyxia. That complainant informed the op about death of cow and surveyor of op visited the spot who took photographs of the cow and also received copy of PMR from the complainant. The complainant submitted all required documents to the op but op has not paid anything to the complainant and now op has repudiated the claim of complainant on 17.01.2020 on the ground that death is within 15 days of insurance, which is not sustainable in the eyes of laws and is wrong and illegal and as such op has caused unnecessary harassment and deficiency in service. Hence, this complaint.
3. On notice, op appeared and filed written statement taking certain preliminary objections. It is submitted that complainant at no point of time gave any intimation or information to the op about the alleged ailment of the insured cow. However, on receipt of information about the death of the insured cow, the same was got investigated by the op from Shri Rakesh Vashishtha Investigator of Charkhi Dadri who visited the spot and submitted a report to the op. The said Investigator reported that that the insured cow died within 12 days of the insurance, therefore, as per cattle insurance policy, the claim was not payable to the complainant due to death of the insured cow resulting from disease contracted prior to commencement of risk and any disease within 15 days from the date of commencement of the risk. Therefore, the claim of complainant was repudiated by the op vide letter dated 18.01.2021. It is further submitted that complainant is not entitled to get any compensation amount as claimed by him and his claim has been repudiated in a legal and lawful manner. Remaining contents of complaint are also denied to be wrong and prayer for dismissal of complaint made.
4. The complainant in evidence has tendered his affidavit Ex. CW1/A and documents Ex.C1 to Ex.C10.
5. On the other hand, op has tendered affidavit of Sh. Jugal Kishore, Incharge as Ex. RW1/A and documents Ex.R1 and Ex.R2.
6. We have heard learned counsel for parties and have gone through the case file.
7. The insurance of the cow in question of complainant for the period 14.09.2019 to 13.09.2020 is not disputed. Admittedly the cow of complainant died on 26.09.2019 i.e. within 12 days during the period of policy in question. The op has repudiated the claim of complainant on the ground that death of cow is within 15 days from the date of start of risk which started on 14.09.2019 and according to op the risk was to be started after expiry of 15 days waiting period. In post mortem report Ex.C4, the Veterinary Surgeon has opined that animal may have died due to acute tympany and asphyxia i.e. disease. The op has also relied terms and conditions of the cattle insurance policy whereby policy does not cover death directly or indirectly due to arising out of or resulting from Disease contracted prior to commencement of risk and any disease within 15 days from the date of commencement of risk as per clause 2 of the policy meaning thereby that death of animal should not be within 15 days from the date of commencement of risk due to any disease. But in the present case, as per post mortem report the cow of complainant died within 15 days of issuance of policy due to disease and as such as per terms and conditions of the policy, the complainant is not entitled to any compensation from ops.
8. In view of our above discussion, we do not find any merit in the present complaint and same is hereby dismissed but with no order as to costs. A copy of this order be supplied to the parties as per rules. File be consigned to the record room.
Announced: Member President,
Dated: 28.08.2024. District Consumer Disputes
Redressal Commission, Sirsa.
