This Complaint coming up before us for hearing on                          10-1-12 in the presence of Sri. O. Girish Kumar, advocate for the complainant and of Sri. C. Narendra Babu, Advocate for opposite party, upon perusing the material on record and having stood over till this day for consideration this Forum made the following:-

O R D E R

Per Sri A. Hazarath Rao,  President:-

The complainant filed this complaint u/s 12 of Consumer Protection Act seeking the assured amount of Rs.1,00,000/-; Rs.7,000/- being the interest from 30-12-10 to 10-07-11; Rs.10,000/- towards mental agony and Rs.5,000/- towards costs.

2.     In brief the complaint averments are hereunder:

One Nimmala Lakshmaiah took group personal accident policy for Rs.1,00,000/- from the opposite party vide Master policy No.1102392914100003.   The opposite party in pursuance of the   said policy issued certificate bearing No.S148601320.  The said Lakshmaiah mentioned the complainant as nominee in the said policy being his wife.   The said Lakshmaiah on 12-10-09 at about 3.00 a.m., went bathroom to attend calls of nature and slipped and sustained head injury.   The said Lakshmaiah was shifted to the Government Hospital in ambulance.   The said Lakshmaiah succumbed to injuries at 10.00 p.m., on 12-10-09.   The complainant gave report to the SHO, Nagarampalem PS at about 7.30 a.m., on 13-10-09 who in turn registered it as Cr.No.206 of 2009 u/s 174 Cr.P.C.   The SHO, Nagarampalem PS conducted inquest and sent the dead body for post - mortem.    The complaint later informed the same to the agent i.e, India Info Line Insurance Services Limited to settle the claim.  The complainant being illiterate contacted several persons to settle the claim of her husband which became futile.   As a last resort the complainant contacted the Vijayawada address of the company and sent all relevant papers.   The said claim was registered with the opposite party as claim No.2111045711.   Till today the opposite party did neither settle the claim nor gave any reply.   The above conduct of the opposite party amounted to deficiency of service. 

3.   The contention of the opposite party in brief is hereunder:

        The opposite party did not receive any intimation from the complainant.  On receipt of summons the opposite party came to know that the complainant filed some receipts of courier service as they were sent to one Anji, Vijayawada and Ram Mohan, Abids, Hyderabad.  The addresses mentioned therein is not proper.   The complainant did not file any document to show that the above addresses received those covers.   In the absence of death intimation the opposite party can do nothing and cannot settle the claim of the complainant.  The complaint therefore be dismissed.

4.     Exs.A-1 to A-9 were marked on behalf of the complainant.   No documents were marked on behalf of the opposite party.

5.   Now the points that arose for consideration in this complaint are:

1. Whether there is any deficiency of service on the part of opposite party?
2. Whether the complainant is entitled to compensation?
3. To what relief?

6.     POINTS 1&2:-   One Nimmala Lakshmaiah taking group personal accident policy (Ex.A-6) is not in dispute.    Ex.A-9 are the courier receipts bearing No.H79407376 and H80530972 issued by DTDC at Guntur on 02-12 and 30-12 addressed to Anji, Vijayawada.    The year of twelfth month was absent.   Ex.A-8 courier receipt was sent to one Ram Mohan, Abids, Hyderabad on 11-04-11.   The complainant did not file any document to show that the addresses mentioned in Ex.A-8 and A-9 received those covers as rightly contended by the opposite party.   The complainant did not file office copy of letter accompanying Exs.A-8 and A-9 for the reasons best known to her.   Under those circumstances, the document submitted by the complainant could not be known. 

7.     Ex.A-6 is copy of Master policy bearing No.1102392914100003 wherein registration number of the insured was mentioned as IIIS 148601320.   In Ex.A-6 the following was mentioned under the caption claims settlement procedure:

        “In the event of insured’s death completed claim form with all required documents will have to be addressed to Reliance General Insurance Company Limited, 5^th floor, 5 Commercial Annex, BKF Debashi Marg, Goandi, Mumbai-400088”.

8.     The documents to be enclosed was also mentioned under the caption claims settlement procedure.   It is not the case of the complainant that she sent claim form along with the required documents either to the opposite party or the address mentioned in Ex.A-6.   Ignorance of law is of no excuse.   It has therefore to be inferred that there was no claim at all from the complainant to the opposite party and as such there is no deficiency of service in our considered opinion.   The complainant under those circumstances is not entitled to any compensation.   In view of the afore mentioned discussion, we answer these points against the complainant.

9.  POINT No.3:-    Ex.A-5 is certificate of death relating to the insured and it disclosed that the insured died on 12-10-09. Complainant’s name was shown as nominee in Ex.A-6.  The complainant filed this complaint on 14-07-11 i.e., in time.   The Consumer Protection Act is a beneficial legislation. Under those circumstances, instead of dismissing the complaint disposing off this complaint with certain directions to both parties will meet ends of justice.

10.   In the result the complaint is disposed off with the following directions :

1. The complainant is directed to submit claim forms along with relevant documents mentioned in Ex.A-6 to the addressee mentioned therein within four weeks under proper acknowledgment.
2. The opposite party is directed to process the claim within four weeks after receipt of the claim form from the complainant along with relevant documents.
3. Each party is directed to bear their own costs.

Typed to my dictation by Junior Stenographer, corrected by and pronounced in the open Forum dated this the 13^th day of January, 2012.

MEMBER                               MEMBER                               PRESIDENT

APPENDIX OF EVIDENCE

DOCUMENTS MARKED

For Complainant : 

For OPPOSITE PARTY :  NIL