Before the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Rohtak.
Complaint No. : 620.
Instituted on : 02.12.2017.
Decided on : 18.07.2019.
Kailash Industries, Plot No.152, HSIIDC, Kutana, Rohtak(Haryana) through its Prop/Partner Sunny, Age 38 years.
………..Complainant.
Vs.
- Oriental Insurance Company Ltd., through its Divisional Manager, Jawahar Market, D-Park, Model Town, Delhi Road Rohtak.
- Oriental Bank of Commerce, Bhiwani Stand, Rothak, through its Manager.
……….Opposite parties.
COMPLAINT U/S 12 OF CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT,1986.
BEFORE: SH.NAGENDER SINGH KADIAN, PRESIDENT.
SH. VED PAL, MEMBER.
DR. RENU CHAUDHARY, MEMBER.
Present: Sh. Sunil Kumar, Advocate for the complainant.
Sh. Pawan Jangra, Advocate for opposite party No.1.
Sh.Ajay Dua, Advocate for opposite party No.2.
ORDER
NAGENDER SINGH KADIAN, PRESIDENT:
1. Brief facts of the case are that complainant has availed an Insurance policy through opposite party No.2 from the opposite party No.1 bearing No.261200/11/2015/760(POLICY No.261200/48/2015/ 1941) for the period 10.01.2015 to 09.01.2016 for covering the risk Battery Manufacturing, stock of battery lead plant and machinery as per proposal for Kailash Industries, Plot No.152, HSIIDC, Rohtak. That during the period of insurance policy on dated 05.01.2016, a burglary took place in the factory premises of the complainant and complainant reported the matter to the police and immediately to the office of the respondent no.1 and & 2 in writing on 06.01.2016. FIR N.12 dated 05.01.2016 was also got registered. That respondent no.1 appointed surveyor, who made physical verification and inspection of the spot and submitted his report in the office of opposite party No.1. That complainant submitted his claim with the opposite party No.1, as he suffered a loss to the tune of Rs.1450000/- and total stock was Rs.2127411.75 as on 05.01.2016. That complainant submitted all the required documents to the opposite party no.1. That despite repeated requests of the complainant, respondent no.1 has not paid the claim amount to the complainant. That the act of opposite party no.1 not to disburse the genuine claim of the complainant is illegal and amounts to deficiency in service. Hence this complaint and it is prayed that that opposite party no.1 be directed to pay Rs.1450000/- alongwith interest, compensation and litigation expenses to the complainant as explained in relief clause.
2. Notice of the present complaint was issued to the opposite parties. Opposite party No.1 in its reply has submitted that the insurance company appointed a surveyor and net loss of Rs.915830/.80 was assessed by the surveyor. But no claim was passed in this case because since the trading & profit & loss account as per the audit balance sheet as on 31,03.2013, 31.03.2014, 31.03.2015 and trading account as on 05.01.2016 and 18.01.2016 provided by the insured cannot be relied upon and the assessment of loss is based on the stock quantity and the value declared to the Bank as on 31.12.2015 are not verifiable therefore, the insurance company is not liable to pay any compensation. All the other contents of the complaint were stated to be wrong and denied and opposite party No.1 prayed for dismissal of complaint with costs.
3. Opposite party No.2 in its reply has submitted that from the contents of the complaint, it is very clear that the dispute is between complainant and respondent no.1. In this way, answering respondent has no concern with the alleged complaint and dismissal of complaint has been sought.
4. Ld. counsel for the complainant has tendered affidavit Ex.CW1/A, Ex.CW2/A, documents Ex.C1 to Ex.C33 and closed his evidence on dated 29.10.2018. On the other hand, ld. counsel for opposite party No.1 has tendered affidavit Ex.RW1/A, Ex.RW2/A, documents Ex.R1 to Ex.R6 and failed to closed his evidence and as such evidence of opposite party No.1 was closed by the order dated 03.05.2019 of this Forum. Ld. counsel for the opposite party No.2 has made a statement that reply already filed on behalf of the opposite party No.2 be read in evidence and closed his evidence on dated 28.03.2019.
5. We have heard ld. counsel for the parties and gone through the material aspects of the case very carefully.
6. In the present case Sh.R.L.Aggarwal investigated the matter and submitted his final survey report on dated 03.05.2017. As per the surveyor, the value of stock as on 05.01.2016 was Rs.2108917/- and he deducted an amount of Rs.834148.20 on account of saved value stock on 05.01.2016. Whereas, complainant has pleaded on this point that the value of saved stock is Rs.7 lacs. The surveyor also mentioned in his report that he also deducted an amount of Rs.318693/- on account of 25% adjustment, as the stolen quantities are not verifiable, so the loss has been assessed on the quantities and later declared to the bank. After considering this fact, the surveyor has deducted a further amount of Rs.318693.95 from the loss assessed by him i.e. Rs.1274775.80 and he further deducted an amount of Rs.40251.5 on account of under insurance i.e. 4.21%. Meaning thereby the surveyor has assessed an amount of Rs.915830.80. As per our observation, the surveyor has wrongly deducted an amount of Rs.318693.95 on the ground that the trading & profit & loss account as per the audited balance sheet provided by the complainant cannot be relied upon, because the stock quantities and the value declared to the bank as on 31.12.2015 are not verifiable. We have perused all the documents placed on record by the complainant. The complainant placed on record stock statement of 31.12.2015 which is Ex.C9. On that date the opening balance was Rs.2398375/- and closing balance was Rs.2127412/- and Ex.C10 is the stock statement provided to the bank by the complainant and in this document the opening balance was Rs.2272771/- and the stock as on 31.10.2015 was Rs.2315548/-. The complainant also placed on record Trading & Profit & loss account for the year 01.04.2015 to 18.01.2016 as Ex.C14, income tax return for the assessment year 2013-14 as Ex.C16, tax return for the assessment year 2014-15 is Ex.C17, for the year 2015-16 is ExC18. With these income tax returns, the trading & profit & loss account were also attached. All the relevant documents i.e. balance sheet, Partner’s capital account, depreciation chart etc. are placed on record. The complainant has also placed on record bill Ex.C12 to Ex.C29. We have also perused the no claim letter issued by the respondent on 24.07.2017.
7. After perusal of all the documents placed on record by the parties, we came to the conclusion that the complainant has supplied all the relevant documents i.e. Trading & profit & loss account, income tax return and other balance sheets demanded by the surveyor of the respondents but the surveyor failed to mention any specific amount of bill which could not be verifiable in his survey report. He only mentioned that some stolen quantities are not verifiable. He failed to mention the number of stolen quantities and also failed to prove that which document was not provided by the complainant. As per complainant, he submitted all the documents with the surveyor and the insurance company. But the surveyor refused the claim of the complainant on the ground that the Trading & profit & loss account as per the audited balance sheet as on 31.03.2013, 31.03.2014, 31.03.2015 and Trading account as on 05.01.2016 and 18.01.2016 provided by the insured cannot be relied upon. Thereafter, he assessed the loss on the stock quantities and the value declared to the bank as on 31.12.2015 and he further submitted that these stock quantities and value declared are not verifiable. The surveyor simply stated that these statements could not be believed, but he has not mentioned any reason why he is not believing these authenticated documents, which were provided to the bank and Income tax office. Meaning thereby, the claim of the complainant was refused without any basis on flimsy ground. Hence the complainant is entitled for the loss assessed by the surveyor without any deductions i.e. Rs.1274775/-.
8. In view of the facts and circumstances of the case, we hereby allow the complaint and direct the opposite party No.1 to pay Rs.1274775/-(Rupees twelve lac seventy four thousand seven hundred seventy five only) to the complainant alongwith interest @9% p.a. from the date of filing the present complaint i.e. 02.11.2017 till its realization and shall also pay a sum of Rs.5000/-(Rupees five thousand only) as litigation expenses and Rs.5000/-(Rupees five thousand only) as compensation on account of deficiency in service to the complainant within one month from the date of decision.
9. Copy of this order be supplied to both the parties free of costs. File be consigned to the record room after due compliance.
Announced in open court:
18.07.2019.
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Nagender Singh Kadian, President
…………………………………
Ved Pal, Member.
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Renu Chaudhary, Member.
