BEFORE THE DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM, SIRSA.
Consumer Complaint no. 105 of 2013
Date of Institution : 3.4.2013
Date of Decision : 16.8.2016
Dharmender Singh son of Sh.Sukhdev Singh, r/o village Bhavdeen, Tehsil and District Sirsa..
….Complainant.
Versus.
The Oriental Insurance Company Pvt. Ltd., through its Divisional manager, 4501, Ist Floor, Bank Bazar, Bathinda 150001 through its Divisional Office, situated at Sirsa through its Divisional Manager.
….Opposite party.
Complaint under Section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act,1986.
Before: SHRI S.B.LOHIA…………………PRESIDENT
SHRI RANBIR SINGH PANGHAL……MEMBER.
Present: Sh.B.L.Narula, Advocate for the complainant.
Sh.Rakesh Bajaj, Advocate for opposite party.
ORDER
Complainant case is that he is owner of one Maruti car Swift Dezire Model 2010 having registration No. HR-59-B/2983. The car in question was insured with the OP vide policy no.233200/31/2012/983 for the period from 15.6.2011 to midnight 28.5.2012. As alleged, previously this car was owned by one Mohinder Singh and was insured with the Op company and on its purchase, ownership of the car and insurance was transferred in his favour from 15.6.2011 to 28.5.2012. Complainant paid Rs.2687/- as premium and insured value of the car was Rs.5,60,000/-. The car in question met with an accident on 24.6.2011. Complainant approached op and in compliance of Op letter dt. 4.8.2011, the complainant supplied all the relevant documents. Op assessed the loss of the vehicle through Shakti Motors Sirsa who assessed the loss at Rs.6,84,000/-, but the Op repudiated the claim vide letter dt. 30.3.2012.Complainant got served legal notice, but in vain. Hence, this complaint.
2. On notice, Ops appeared and contested the case by filing written version that the complainant purchased the aforesaid vehicle in December 2010 and got transferred the same on 7.6.2011. As confessed by the complainant before the Investigator appointed by the Op that the said vehicle met with accident on 24.4.2011 and also raised doubt about the driver who was driving the vehicle. As such, on the day of accident, the complainant was not the owner and at that time, one Sh.Mohinder Singh s/o Baldev Singh, r/o Gurusar distt.Fatehabad was the registered owner. The insurance policy was transferred in his name on 15.6.2011 i.e. after the actual date of accident. Ops also denied the remaining allegations of the complaint alleging that there is no deficiency in repudiating the claim.
3. By way of evidence the complainant has produced affidavit Ex. C1, affidavit of Randeep Singh Ex.C2, copy of DL Ex.C3 and Ex.C5, copy of RC Ex.C4, copy of policy Ex.C6, copy of estimate Ex.C7 & Ex.C8, letter dt. 4.8.2011 Ex.C9, copy of repudiation letter dt. 30.3.2012 Ex.C10, legal notice Ex.C11, postal receipt Ex.C12, reply to legal notice Ex.C13, affidavits Ex.C14 to Ex.C18, copy of DL Ex.C19 and copy of statement Ex.C20. Whereas the Ops produced affidavit Ex. R1, copy of investigation report Ex.R2 and statements Ex.R3 to Ex.R5, Ex.R5-A and Ex.R6.
4. We have heard learned counsels for the parties and have gone through the record of the case carefully.
5. To determine the present complaint, the only question is whether the date of accident was 24.4.2011 as alleged by the Ops or 24.6.2011as alleged by the complainant? As per the investigation report of Royal Associates Investigating and Detective Agency, Kurukshetra Ex.R2 supported with affidavit of Investigator and detective Ex.R1, the complainant himself admitted before him that the car met with accident on 26.4.2011 but complainant is not holding driving licence being 17-1/2 years old. As per the statement of Mohinder Singh, previous owner of the car, the car met with an accident in April 2011. Further as per the statement of other witnesses recorded by the investigator, nobody
sustained any injury, but car damaged badly. As per the statement of Dharmender Singh duly written by him in the presence of one Raj Kaur, the car met with an accident on 24.4.2011, but he got transferred the car and its insurance in his name on 15.6.2011. This statement is on the record as Ex.R3. Further as per the statement of one Muninder Singh on the file, car met with accident in April 2011. On 30.8.2011 one Satish Kumar also made his statement before the Investigator which is Ex.R4 that car met with an accident 3-4 months ago. Accordingly, some other witnesses namely Karamveer Phutela, Dalvinder Singh and Randeep Singh made their statements before the Investigator, which are on the file Ex.R5, Ex.R5/a and Ex.R6. To support the version of Ops, there is affidavit of Sr.Divisional Manager, but not exhibited. Beside it, there is no FIR or DDR showing the accident as alleged by the complainant. From all of this, it is clearly established on record that the car in question was purchased by the complainant from its previous owner in December 2010 but he got transferred ownership of the car and its insurance in June, 2011, whereas it was damaged in April 2011 in road side accident. As such, on the day of accident, complainant was not the owner of the car nor he was insured in any manner in respect of the car. We are of the considered view that Ops rightly repudiated the claim and there is no deficiency and negligence on their part.
6. Resultantly, the present complaint stands dismissed with no order as to costs. Copy of this order be supplied to the parties as per rules. File be consigned to record room after due compliance.
Announced in open Forum. President,
Dated:16.8.2016. Member District Consumer Disputes
Redressal Forum, Sirsa.
