BEFORE THE DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION, SIRSA.
Consumer Complaint no. 653 of 2019.
Date of Institution : 18.11.2019.
Date of Decision : 31.10.2023.
1. Krishan Kumar aged 54 years son of Shri Dungar Ram, 2. Lazeet minor son of Prithvi Singh minor through his mother Smt. Raj Bala wife of Prithvi Singh as his next friend and guardian residents of village Shakkar Mandori, Tehsil and District Sirsa.
……Complainants.
Versus.
1. Reliance General Insurance Company Limited, 2nd Floor, S.C.O. 147-148, Madhya Marg, Sector 9-C, Chandigarh through its Divisional Manager.
2. Deputy Director of Agriculture, Sirsa, Haryana.
3. Manager, H.D.F.C. Bank Limited, Agroha, District Hisar.
...…Opposite parties.
Complaint under Section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986.
Before: SH. PADAM SINGH THAKUR ………………PRESIDENT
MRS.SUKHDEEP KAUR……………………….MEMBER.
Present: Sh. V.P. Saharan, Advocate for complainants.
Sh. H.S. Raghav, Advocate for opposite party No.1.
Sh. Satish Kumar, Statistical Assistant for opposite party no.2.
Sh. S.L. Sachdeva, Advocate for opposite party no.3.
ORDER
The complainant no.1 Krishan Kumar and complainant no.2 Lazeet minor through his mother and guardian have filed the present joint complaint under Section 12 of Consumer Protection Act, 1986 against the opposite parties (hereinafter referred to as Ops).
2. In brief, the case of complainants is that they are agriculturists by profession and are having their agriculture land in village Shakkar Mandori, District Sirsa. That complainants had mortgaged their share of land i.e. 80 kanals 14 marlas (as detailed in para no.3 of the complaint) as per jamabandi for the year 2017-18 in favour of op no.3 and have availed crop loan from op no.3 through kisan credit cards bearing account no. 50200011387711. That op no.3 got insured their crop of kharif, 2016 with op no.1 and accordingly op no.3 deducted the insurance premium of Rs.8496/- on 17.08.2016 from their account and same was paid to op no.1. It is further averred that cotton crop of complainants of year 2016 was completely damaged due to the white fly and other natural disaster. The complainants reported the matter to ops no.2 and 3 and the officials of all the ops inspected the agriculture fields of complainants and prepared the report regarding damage to the crop of complainants. That as per report submitted by Agriculture department, complainants are eligible for the sum insured i.e. payment of Rs.25,000/- per acre. It is further averred that complainants approached the ops several times and requested to pay compensation but none of the ops paid any claim amount to them and as such it is clear cut case of deficiency in service on the part of ops. That other farmers have already been paid claim amount. Thereafter complainants also got served legal notice upon ops on 21.08.2019 but to no effect. Hence, this complaint.
3. On notice, ops appeared. Op no.1 filed written statement raising certain preliminary objections regarding maintainability, jurisdiction, delay and that dispute is of civil nature. It is also submitted that multiple claims cannot be adjudicated in a single complaint and that actual yield is greater than threshold yield. The contents of complaint are also denied. It is submitted that as per report of Agriculture department the above village Shakkar Mandori does not quality for the yield basis claim and threshold yield of block average is 606.78 but this block contains the yield average as 755.08 which is very above from the minimum yield. The complainants have less picking of cotton crop and as per the area tradition of the picking of cotton crop is not less than 3 to 4 times but the complainants picked the same only two times from which the alleged loss is occurred. The complainants and other ops never intimated to the insurance company regarding any type of crop damage and complainants never approached the answering op. It is further submitted that it is not an individual insurance policy like other insurance policies rather it is a group insurance scheme in accordance with agreed terms and conditions of scheme which are binding on all concerned related to the scheme. The complainants should have approached to DAC & FW department for any kind of grievance related to scheme or claim and the decision of said department would be binding on all state Government/ Insurance Company/ Banks and farmers but instead of filing complaint or grievance there, the complainants have approached this Forum with bad intention by violating standard terms and conditions of scheme. Remaining contents of complaint are also denied to be wrong and prayer for dismissal of complaint made.
4. Op no.2 also filed written statement taking certain preliminary objections. It is submitted that only crop cutting experience report or report of survey of loss of crop is to be prepared by op no.2 and all other risks of coverage were to be finalized by the insurance company and there is no role of op no.2 in this regard. The yield basis claims are settled by insurance company only on completion of other necessary formalities as prescribed in operational guidelines of scheme which have already been given by op no.2 within specific time period and prayer for dismissal of complaint qua op no.2 made.
5. Op no.3 also filed separate written statement raising certain preliminary objections. It is submitted that complainant has declared kharif crop to the answering op and requested to get his crop insured with op no.1. Accordingly on the asking of complainant, the answering op got the declared crops of complainant insured with op no.1. Remaining contents of complaint are also denied to be wrong and prayer for dismissal of complaint qua op no.3 made.
6. The complainants in evidence have tendered affidavit of Sh. Krishan Kumar complainant as Ex. CW1/A and documents Ex.C1 to Ex.C6.
7. On the other hand, op no.1 has tendered into evidence affidavit of Sh. Suryadeep Singh Thakur, Area Legal Manager as Ex. R1/A and documents Ex.R1 to.R13. OP no.3 has tendered affidavit of Sh. Saurabh Mehta, Manager as Ex.R14. OP no.2 has tendered affidavit of Sh. Babu Lal, Deputy Director of Agriculture, Sirsa as Ex.R15 and documents Ex.R16 to Ex.R18.
8. We have heard learned counsel for the parties as well as Sh. Satish Kumar, SA for op no.2 and have gone through the case file carefully.
9. In so far as objections of the ops regarding delay in filing the present complaint and filing of joint complaint are concerned, vide order dated 05.07.2021 delay in filing the complaint has already been condoned and application seeking permission to file joint complaint under Section 12 (c) of the Act has also been allowed and therefore, above said objections of ops at this stage are immaterial and the complaint is to be decided on merits.
10. The Agriculture department which is liable to conduct survey of loss of crops has placed on file report of Deputy Director Agriculture and Farmers Welfare department, Sirsa as Ex.R16 in which it is reported that average yield of cotton crop of kharif, 2016 of village Shakkar Mandori was 247.38 Kgs. per hectare and threshold yield of block Nathusari Chopta was 606.78 kgs. per hectare and as such as per this report Ex.R16, there was loss to the cotton crop of complainants of kharif, 2016. The op no.1 insurance company has not relied upon any valid proof/ document in support of its plea to prove the fact that the average yield of village Shakkar Mandori was more than threshold yield. The op no.1 insurance company has not relied upon any yield data as provided by the Govt. of Haryana to op no.1 as alleged in its emails. As such report of agriculture department which is placed on record has to be given importance and is to be relied upon for determination of the fact regarding loss of crop and as such it is proved on record from report Ex.R16 that there was loss to the cotton crop of complainants in kharif, 2016. Moreover, Deputy Director Agriculture, Sirsa through various letters as placed on file repeatedly recommended for assessment of loss of cotton crop of kharif, 2016 of the farmers of village Shakkar Mandori as average yield remained as 247.38 Kgs. per hectare and threshold yield of block as 606.78 Kgs. per hectare. As per Haryana Govt. notification dated 17.06.2016 Ex.R17, the sum insured amount of cotton crop in Sirsa District in 2016 was Rs.60,000/- per hectare. So as per formula given in the operational guidelines of PMFBY, the complainants are entitled to insurance claim amount of Rs.1,43,930/- for the loss of their cotton crop of kharif, 2016 in their 4.05 hectares of land in equal shares. The op no.1 insurance company is liable to pay the said claim amount to the complainants being insurer of crop of complainants because it received insurance premiums from complainants through op no.3 and has not denied the factum of insurance of cotton crop of complainants of kharif, 2016.
11. In view of our above discussion, we allow the present complaint against opposite party no.1 insurance company and direct the op no.1 to pay above said claim amount of Rs.1,43,930/- to the complainants in equal shares within a period of 45 days from the date of receipt of copy of this order, failing which the complainants will be entitled to receive the above said amounts of Rs.1,43,930/- alongwith interest @6% per annum from op no.1 from the date of this order till actual realization. We also direct the op no.1 to further pay a sum of Rs.10,000/- as composite compensation for harassment and litigation expenses to the complainants in equal share within above said stipulated period of 45 days. The share of the minor shall be used by his mother for his study and for his better upbringing. However, complaint qua remaining ops no.2 and 3 stands dismissed. A copy of this order be supplied to the parties as per rules. File be consigned to the record room.
Announced: Member President
Dt. 31.10.2023. District Consumer Disputes
Redressal Commission, Sirsa.
