BEFORE THE DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION, SIRSA.
Consumer Complaint no. 231 of 2020.
Date of Institution : 12.10.2020.
Date of Decision : 05.06.2024.
Misri Devi aged 63 years wife of Shri Harphool Singh, resident of village Jogiwala, Tehsil and District Sirsa.
……Complainant.
Versus.
1. State Bank of India, Regional Office: Opposite Shree Hospital, Dabwali Road, Sirsa, Tehsil and Distt. Sirsa through its Regional Manager.
2. State Bank of India, Kagdana Branch, Village Kagdana, Sirsa, Tehsil N.S. Chopta, Distt. Sirsa through its Branch Manager.
3. Agriculture Insurance Company of India Ltd. Head Office at Plate B&C, 5th Floor, Block-1, East Kidwai Nagar, Opp. AIIMS Gate No.2, New Delhi- 110023 through its MD/ Authorized Person/ Director.
4. District Agriculture Officer, Near Old Tehsil, Court Road, Sirsa, Tehsil and District Sirsa.
...…Opposite parties.
Complaint under Section 35 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.
Before: SH. PADAM SINGH THAKUR ………………PRESIDENT
SMT. SUKHDEEP KAUR……………………MEMBER.
Present: Sh. N.K. Daroliya, Advocate for complainant.
Sh. Ravinder Chaudhary, Advocate for opposite parties no.1 and 2.
Sh. A.S. Kalra, Advocate for opposite party no.3.
Sh. Satish Kumar, Statistical Assistant for opposite party no.4.
ORDER:-
The complainant has filed the present complaint under Section 35 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 against the opposite parties (herein after referred as OPs).
2. In brief, the case of complainant is that she is an agriculturist and is owner in possession of agricultural land measuring about 5.25 acres ( as detailed in para no.1 of the complaint) situated at village Jogiwala, Tehsil and District Sirsa. She has obtained KCC facility from ops no.1 and 2. That as per crop insurance scheme ops no.1 and 2 got insured her crop of Kharif, 2019 from op no.3 and deducted premium amount of Rs.2643/- from the account of complainant bearing no. 37224870513. The complainant had sown cotton crop in Kharif, 2019 which was totally damaged due to natural calamities, pests/ diseases and draught which was also verified by op no.4 and submitted its report to other ops. The complainant sustained the losses of Rs.4,00,000/- on account of damages to her insured crop and is entitled for the same and other farmers have already received compensation in this regard. It is further averred that complainant approached to the ops and requested them to pay the amount of compensation but the ops kept on lingering the matter on one false pretext or the other and now about a week ago the ops have refused to pay any such amount to her saying that Narma crop of complainant has never been insured by them and she is not entitled to compensation and on further inquiry ops no.1 and 2 disclosed that mistakenly cotton crop of Kharif, 2019 of complainant left to be insured and admitted that they had failed to get insured crop of complainant and also admitted that name of complainant in the proposal form sent to op no.3 by ops no.1 and 2 alongwith premium and they assured that said mistake would be got rectified by their own and amount of compensation shall be disbursed to him at the earliest. That since then she has been making rounds to the office of ops but they are avoiding the requests of complainant and now about two days ago they have refused to admit her claim and have caused deficiency in service and harassment to the complainant. Hence, this complaint.
3. On notice, ops appeared. Ops no.1 and 2 filed written version and submitted that bank has debited an amount of Rs.2643/- on 12.07.2019 from the account of complainant and has credited the same to the account of op no.3 as premium of insurance for Kharif, 2019. All the information required by op no.3 was sent to it as per rules. The insurance company has never informed the complainant or the bank regarding any discrepancy in the record or information sent by the bank. Till date, answering op has no knowledge that on what ground, the claim of complainant has been rejected by the company. It is further submitted that as per clause 16 (xxix) of Haryana Government notification dated 24.05.2019 the insurance company shall verify the data of insured farmers pertaining to the area insured, area sown, address, bank account number (KYC) as provided by the banks independently on its own cost within two months of cut off date and in case of any correction must report to the state government failing which no objection by the insurance company at a later stage will be entertained and it will be binding on the insurance company to pay the claim. It is further submitted that crop of complainant has been insured with Agriculture Insurance Company and as such said insurance company is a necessary party to the complaint. It is further submitted that complainant has not declared intentionally the area owned by her and in her exclusive possession. The record does not disclose that in which area she has sown the crop as alleged. Remaining contents of complaint are also denied to be wrong and prayer for dismissal of complaint qua ops no.1 and 2 made.
4. After filing of amended title and on being impleaded as op no.3, op no.3 appeared and filed written version and submitted that no coverage details of complainant farmer were found on NCI portal for Kharif 2019 season under PMFBY, hence her crop insurance coverage is denied. It is further submitted that complainant is not a consumer of op no.3 as the details of the complainant were not uploaded at the NCIP which is mandatory for insurance of crops as per PMFBY and thus no claim is payable to the complainant farmer for the above mentioned season whereas answering op has already refunded the excess premium of Rs.49471.50 on 08.01.2020 to the op no.2 and it is the sole duty of the bank to further remit the premium back into the account of the farmers. It is further submitted that as per clause of operational guidelines of PMFBY, in cases where farmers are denied crop insurance due to incorrect/ partial/ non uploading of their details on portal, concerned banks/ intermediaries shall be responsible for payment of claims to them and as bank has not uploaded farmers details at the NCIP, only the bank branch i.e. op no.2 can only be held liable for the compensation to the complainant. With these averments, dismissal of complaint qua op no.3 prayed for.
5. Op no.4 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.4 and all other risks of coverage were to be finalized by the insurance company and there is no role of op no.4 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.4 within specific time period and prayer for dismissal of complaint qua op no.4 made.
6. The complainant in evidence has tendered her affidavit Ex.C1 and documents Ex.C2 to Ex.C7.
7. OPs no.1 and 2 have tendered affidavit of Sh. Gagan Kumar, Branch Manager as Ex. RW1/A and statement of account Ex. RW1/1. Op no.3 has tendered affidavit of Sh. Geddam Gandhi Raju, Regional Manager as Ex.R1 and documents Ex.R2 to Ex.R11. Op no.4 has tendered affidavit of Sh. Sukhdev Singh, Deputy Director of Agriculture, Sirsa as Ex.RW4/A and documents Ex.R4/1 and Ex.R4/2.
8. We have heard learned counsel for parties as well as Sh. Satish Kumar, SA for op no.4 and have gone through the case file.
9. The complainant as well as op no.4 in order to prove loss to the cotton crop of Kharif, 2019 have placed on file letter/ report of the Deputy Director of Agriculture, Sirsa as Ex.C7 and Ex.R4/2 in which it is reported that the average yield of cotton crop of village Jogiwala in Kharif, 2019 was 385.04 Kgs. per hectare and threshold yield of block Nathusari Chopta was 572.40 Kgs. per hectare. Since the average yield of village Jogiwala remained less than block, so as per operational guidelines of PMFBY, there was also loss to the cotton crop of complainant in Kharif, 2019. However, as op no.2 bank did not upload the data of complainant on NCI portal as there is nothing on file to prove the said fact that op no.2 bank uploaded the data of complainant on NCI portal, therefore, her crop was not insured with op no.3, therefore, no claim was paid by op no.3 to the complainant. Since op no.2 bank has failed to upload the data of complainant on portal and has failed to get the crop of complainant insured with op no.3, therefore, ops no.1 and 2 bank are liable to pay claim amount to the complainant for the loss of her cotton crop of Kharif, 2019. The sum insured amount of cotton crop in Kharif, 2019 was Rs.76,600/- per hectare. The premium amount of Rs.2643/- from the account of complainant was deducted by op no.2 and as for one acre premium amount of Rs.618/- was to be deducted therefore premium amount of Rs.2643/- was deducted for insurance of cotton crop of complainant in her about 4.3 acres of land. Though complainant has averred that she is having land measuring about 5.25 acres but as premium amount of Rs.2643/- for 4.3 acres of land was deducted from her account, so complainant is entitled to claim amount for loss of crop in said 4.3 acres of land because complainant has not proved on record that she had sown cotton crop in her 5.25 acres of land and that op no.2 has wrongly deducted premium amount for 4.3 acres of land. So, as per formula given in the operational guidelines of PMFBY, the complainant is entitled to insurance claim amount of Rs.43,600/- for the loss of her cotton crop of Kharif, 2019 in her 4.3 acres of land and ops no.1 and 2 are liable to pay the said amount to the complainant because as per clause 17.2 of the operational guidelines of PMFBY in cases where farmers are denied crop insurance due to incorrect/ partial/ non-uploading of their details on Portal, concerned Banks/ Intermediaries shall be responsible for payment of claims (if any).
10. In view of our above discussion, we partly allow the present complaint qua ops no.1 and 2 bank and direct the opposite parties no.1 and 2 to pay the claim amount of Rs.43,600/- to the complainant within a period of 45 days from the date of receipt of copy of this order, failing which complainant will be entitled to receive the said amount of Rs.43,600/- from ops no.1 and 2 bank alongwith interest at the rate of @6% per annum from the date of this order till actual realization. We also direct the ops no.1 and 2 to further pay a sum of Rs.10,000/- as composite compensation for harassment and litigation expenses to the complainant within above said stipulated period. The complaint qua remaining ops no.3 and 4 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,
Dated: 05.06.2024. District Consumer Disputes
Redressal Commission, Sirsa.
