BEFORE THE DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION, SIRSA.
Consumer Complaint no. 110 of 2020.
Date of Institution : 26.02.2020.
Date of Decision : 20.09.2024.
Sonu wife of Shri Ved Pal, resident of village Kharian, Tehsil Rania, District Sirsa.
……Complainant.
Versus.
1. Sarv Haryana Gramin Bank, Village Kharian, Tehsil Rania, District Sirsa through its Branch Manager.
2. Oriental Insurance Company Ltd. Janta Bhawan Road, Sirsa through its Manager.
3. Chhotu Ram, Loss Assessor, Oriental Insurnace Company Ltd. (Mobile No. 70395-40144)
4. Oriental Insurance Company Ltd. A-25/27, Asaf Ali Road, New Delhi- 110002 through its MD.
...…Opposite parties.
Complaint under Section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986.
BEFORE: SH. PADAM SINGH THAKUR ………………PRESIDENT
MRS.SUKHDEEP KAUR………………………MEMBER.
SH. OM PARKASH TUTEJA…………………MEMBER
Present: Sh. R.P. Kaswan, Advocate for complainant.
Sh. S.L. Sachdeva, Advocate for opposite party No.1.
Sh. K.L. Gagneja, Advocate for opposite parties no.2 and 4.
Sh. Surender Sihag, Advocate for opposite party no.3.
ORDER
The complainant has filed the present complaint under Section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 ( after amendment u/s 35 of Consumer Protection Act, 2019) against the opposite parties (hereinafter referred to as Ops).
2. In brief, the case of the complainant is that she is an agriculturist and is owner in possession of land measuring 12¼ acres situated in village Gindra, Tehsil Rania, District Sirsa. She has availed KCC facility from op no.1 on her above said land through account number 81068800020658. That as per crop insurance scheme op no.1 deducted the amount of Rs.6920.12 from the account of complainant on 31.07.2018 for insurance of her crop of Kharif, 2018 with op no.2. It is further averred that crop of Kharif, 2018 in her village including her crop was destroyed on account of natural calamities, rainy flood, pests/ diseases and draught and information was duly supplied to the concerned Agriculture department on 24.09.2018 and on the information of complainant op no.3 was appointed as Loss Assessor under ops no.2 and 4 on 03.10.2018 who surveyed/ inspected the spot and assessed the loss to the extent of 15% of the total yield due to water logging and total loss was assessed to the tune of Rs.1,03,680/-. The complainant approached the ops and requested to pay said claim amount but ops have failed to pay any claim to her whereas some of the villagers have already received claim amount and about a week ago they flatly refused to admit genuine claim of complainant and have caused deficiency in service and unnecessary harassment to the complainant. Hence, this complaint.
3. On notice, ops appeared. Op no.1 filed written version raising certain preliminary objections. It is submitted that complainant herself has declared crop sown in her field at the time of advancement of loan and accordingly got insured her declared crops through answering op. Hence the amount of premium to the tune of Rs.6920.12 has been debited to her loan account on 31.07.2018 and has been credited to insurance company as per norms by answering op. At the time of insurance, the complainant was very much present in the bank who authorized/ instructed the answering op for doing insurance of her crops as mentioned in the application which is duly signed by her and it is insurance company who has to indemnify the loss of crops of complainant, if any. Remaining contents of complaint are also denied to be wrong and prayer for dismissal of complaint made.
4. Ops no.2 and 4 also filed written statement raising certain preliminary objections. It is submitted that no premium for the crop of complainant situated in village Kharian was remitted to answering op by op no.1. The premium of crops of complainant was remitted for village Gidran. No loss to crop in the area of Gindran was reported or registered with any of the agency under PMFBY, so the answering op is not liable to pay any claim for loss of crop or any compensation to the complainant. Remaining contents of complaint are also denied and prayer for dismissal of complaint made.
5. OP no.3 also filed written statement submitting therein that answering op has got no collusion with each other ops and he has assessed the loss as per law.
6. The complainant in evidence has tendered her affidavit Ex. CW1/A and documents Ex.C1 to Ex.C3.
7. On the other hand, Op no.1 has tendered affidavit of Sh. Ashish Sharma, Branch Manager as Ex. RW1/A and documents Ex.R1/1 to Ex.R1/3. Ops no.2 and 4 have tendered affidavit of Sh. Sanjay Aggarwal, Incharge Legal Hub as Ex. RW2/A and documents Ex.R2/1 and Ex.R2/2. Learned counsel for op no.3 suffered statement that written statement filed on behalf of op no.3 be read as evidence.
8. We have heard learned counsel for the parties and have gone through the case file.
9. The complainant in order to prove loss to her cotton crop of Kharif, 2018 has placed on file loss report submitted by Block Agriculture Officer, Rania as Ex.C1 in which it is mentioned that there was loss of Rs.1,03,680/- due to loss of 15% of crop in 12¼ acres of land of complainant due to water logging. However, as per operational guidelines of PMFBY there is loss of crop if the average yield of village is less than threshold yield of block as per crop cutting experiments. There is no mention in the said report Ex.C1 that what was average yield of cotton crop of village Gindran in Kharif, 2018 and what was threshold yield of block Rania and as such the report Ex.C1 which has not been prepared as per crop cutting experiment as per operational guidelines of PMFBY cannot be read and relied upon for determination of loss of crop of complainant. Further more, complainant has not proved on record that what was actual yield of cotton crop in Kharif, 2018 and for how much amount same was sold. So, it appears that report Ex.C1 has been prepared in connivance with complainant. In these circumstances, complainant is not entitled to any claim from any of ops.
10. 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 Member President
Dt. 20.09.2024. District Consumer Disputes
Redressal Commission, Sirsa.
