Punjab

Faridkot

CC/17/149

Surinderjit Kaur - Complainant(s)

Versus

Tata AIG LIfe Insurance Company Ltd. - Opp.Party(s)

Lakhwinder Singh

31 Aug 2017

ORDER

 DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM, FARIDKOT

 

Complaint No. :      149

Date of Institution:  2.05.2017

Date of Decision :   31.08.2017

 

Surinderjit Kaur, aged about 63 years d/o Late Surinder Singh, w/o Sukhdev Singh Gill, Kothi No.62-B, Street No.5-L, New Cantt Road, Faridkot, Tehsil and District Faridkot.

...Complainant

Versus

  1. Tata AIG Life Insurance Company Ltd, Ahura Centre, 4th Floor, 82 Mahakali Caves Road, Andheri (E) Mumbai 400093, through its Chairman/MD/Authorised Signatory.
  2. Tata AIG Life Insurance Company Ltd, 14th Floor, Tower-A, Peninsula Business Park, Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel, Mumbai-400093, through its Chairman/MD/Authorised Signatory.
  3. Tata AIG Life Insurance Company Ltd, Branch Office SCO 668. Ist Floor, Dasmesh Complex, Pakhowal Road, Ludhiana, Tehsil and District Ludhiana through its Branch Manager.
  4. Smt Gurmanjeet Kaur d/o Harjinder Singh Narula, Agent of Tata AIG Life Insurance Company Ltd, and now. c/o Khalsa Tyres, Circular Road, Opp. Balbir Basti, Faridkot, Tehsil and District Faridkot.

.....OPs

Complaint under Section 12 of the

Consumer Protection Act, 1986.

 

Quorum: Sh. Ajit Aggarwal, President,

               Sh P Singla, Member.

 

Present: Sh Lakhwinder Singh, Ld Counsel for complainant,

              Sh A S Virdi, Ld Counsel for OPs-1 to 3,

              OP-4 Exparte.

(ORDER)

 (Ajit Aggarwal, President)

                                                Complainant has filed the present complaint under Section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 against OPs seeking directions to OPs to pay the remaining amount of Rs.96,000/-out of insured amount of Rs. 3 lacs alongwith interest and for further directing OPs to pay Rs. 50,000/- as compensation for deficiency in service, Rs.50,000/-for trade mal practice and harassment, inconvenience, mental agony besides Rs.20,000/- as litigation expenses.

2                                           Briefly stated, the case of the complainant is that on assurance of OPs, complainant purchased the insurance policy worth Rs.3,00,000/- commencing from 24.04.2003 and as per policy, complainant was to pay Rs.21,750/- annually for 12 years. Complainant paid all the premiums for 12 years which amounted to Rs.2,61,000/-.In 2015, OPs paid Rs.2,04,000/- only to complainant, which is less than the actual amount of premium deposited by her with OPs. Ops refused the remaining payment on the ground that it would be paid to her in year 2054, which is quite illegal and unlawful. It is further submitted that now, complainant is about 63 years and there is no certainty of life till 2054. Complainant made several requests to Ops to release the remaining amount of Rs.96,000/-of sum assured to complainant, but they kept lingering on the matter on one pretext or the other, which amounts to deficiency in service and trade mal practice on their part. Complainant has prayed for directing Ops to refund the remaining amount of sum assured alongwith interest and for further directing them to pay Rs.50,000/- as compensation for harassment, inconvenience, mental agony besides litigation expenses of Rs.20,000/-. Hence, the present complaint.

3                                                    The counsel for complainant was heard with regard to admission of the complaint and vide order dated 15.05.2017, complaint was admitted and notice was ordered to be issued to the opposite party.

4                                             OP-1 to 3 filed written statement taking preliminary objections that allegations levelled by complainant are totally wrong and false and complaint is not maintainable in the present form as complainant has tried to misguide the Forum and no cause of action arises against answering OPs. Complainant is stopped  by her act and conduct to file the present complaint before filing the present complaint complainant has already surrendered the present policy and has accepted the surrender value and dividend or bonus issued by OPs from time to time as per terms and conditions of the policy and now, she has no right to file the complaint. Complainant herself agreed to accept the surrender value of policy i.e Rs.2,04,932.27/- and even she agreed to accept the amount even if it was less than Rs.2,04,932.27/-. It is averred that as per terms and conditions of the policy, Ops credited the amount of Rs.2,04,932.27/-as surrender value of policy in question in the account of complainant. Complainant also received dividend or bonus issued by Ops from time to time. The period for which she paid the premiums, she has received all the benefits of policy for that period and once the complainant has utilized the policy, she has no right to claim any refund and damages. Relief of Rs.96,000/-sought by complainant cannot be accepted as complainant has already surrendered her policy before the date of its maturity which was 28.04.2054 and moreover, surrender value has already been paid to complainant. it is further averred that surrender value cannot be paid from the amount of insurance which is paid only in death cases of assured during the currency of insurance policy. It is reiterated that there is no deficiency in service on the part of Ops and denied all the other allegations and allegations with regard to relief sought too are refuted with a prayer to dismiss the complaint.

5                                                      Notice issued to OP-4 stands served but no one appeared in the Forum on the behalf of Op-4 either in person or through counsel. Statutory period expired. Therefore, vide order dated 24.07.2017, Op-4 was proceeded against exparte.

6                                                                 Parties were given proper opportunities to prove their respective case. The complainant tendered in evidence his affidavit Ex.C-1 and documents Ex C-2 to C-10 and then, closed his evidence.

7                                                          In order to rebut the evidence of the complainant, ld counsel for OPs tendered in evidence, affidavit of Harsimran Singh as Ex OP-1 and documents Ex OP-2 to OP-7 and then, closed the same on behalf of Ops.

8                                              We have heard the ld counsel for complainant as well as OPs and have carefully gone through the evidence and documents placed on record by respective parties.

 9                                                       Ld Counsel for complainant argued that on assurance of OPs, complainant purchased the insurance policy worth Rs.3,00,000/- commencing from 28.04.2003 and as per policy, complainant was to pay Rs.21,750/- annually for 12 years. She paid all the premiums for 12 years which amounted to Rs.2,61,000/- and in 2015, OPs paid Rs.2,04,000/- only to complainant, which is less than the actual amount of premium deposited by her with OPs. Ops refused the remaining payment on the ground that it would be paid to her in year 2054, which is quite illegal and unlawful. It is further submitted that now, complainant is about 63 years and there is no certainty of life till 2054. Complainant made several requests to Ops to release the remaining amount of Rs.96,000/-of sum assured to complainant, but they kept lingering on the matter on one pretext or the other, which amounts to deficiency in service. She has prayed for accepting the present complaint alongwith compensation and litigation expenses and stressed on documents Ex C-1 to 10.

10                                          To controvert the allegations of complainant, ld counsel for OPs argued before the Forum that there is no deficiency in service on the part of OPs. It is averred that allegations levelled by complainant are totally wrong and false and complaint is not maintainable in the present form as complainant has tried to misguide the Forum and no cause of action arises against them. Complainant is stopped  by her act and conduct to file the present complaint as before filing the complaint, she has already surrendered the present policy and has accepted the surrender value and dividend or bonus issued by OPs from time to time as per terms and conditions of the policy and now, she has no right to file the complaint. Complainant herself accepted the surrender value of Rs.2,04,932.27/- and even she agreed to accept the amount even if it was less than Rs.2,04,932.27/-. As per terms and conditions of the policy, Ops credited Rs.2,04,932.27/- as surrender value of policy in the account of complainant. She also received dividend or bonus issued by Ops from time to time. The period for which she paid the premiums, she has received all the benefits of policy for that period and once the complainant has utilized the policy, she has no right to claim any refund and damages. Relief of Rs.96,000/-sought by her cannot be accepted as complainant has already surrendered her policy before the date of its maturity which was 28.04.2054 and moreover, surrender value has already been paid to complainant. It is further averred that surrender value cannot be paid from the amount of insurance which is paid only in death cases of assured during the currency of insurance policy. It is reiterated that there is no deficiency in service on the part of Ops and prayed for dismissal of complaint.

11                                     From the careful perusal of record and documents placed by parties, it is observed that case of the complainant is that in persuasion of assurances given by OPs, complainant purchased an insurance policy for Rs. 3 lacs from OPs and started paying premiums. Complainant was to pay premium for 12 years and after completion of policy, when she surrendered the policy with OPs they  paid her only Rs.2,04,000/-, which is less than the actual amount of premium deposited by her with OPs. Ops refused to pay remaining amount saying it would be paid to her in year 2054, which is quite illegal and unlawful. It is further submitted that now, complainant is about 63 years and there is no certainty of life till 2054. Complainant made several requests to Ops to release the remaining amount of Rs.96,000/-of sum assured to complainant, with interest. In reply, OPs stressed mainly on the point that complainant has surrendered the present policy and has accepted the surrender value and dividend or bonus issued by OPs from time to time as per terms and conditions of the policy and now, she has no right to file the complaint. As per terms and conditions of the policy, Ops credited Rs.2,04,932.27/- as surrender value of policy in the account of complainant and the period for which she paid the premiums, she has received all the benefits of policy for that period and once the complainant has utilized the policy, she has no right to claim any refund and damages. Relief of Rs.96,000/-sought by her cannot be accepted as complainant has already surrendered her policy before the date of its maturity which was 28.04.2054 and moreover, surrender value has already been paid to complainant. There is no deficiency in service on the part of OPs and have prayed for dismissal of complaint with costs.

12                                          The Ld Counsel for complainant argued that OPs did not calculate the surrender value of the policy correctly as per IRDA regulations and paid very less amount to complainant as surrender value. They have violated the guidelines of the IRDA and calculated the surrender value on their own and have not paid the entire surrender value to complainant.

13                                          From the above discussion, the present complaint is hereby allowed. OPs are directed to reconsider the surrender value regarding policy in question afresh as on 25.05.2015 when complainant made request for surrendering his policy as per IRDA regulations 2013 and pay the remaining surrender value if any alongwith interest at the rate of 9 % per anum from 1.07.2015, when they credited the amount of surrender value in the account of complainant till final realization. OPs are further directed to pay Rs.3000/-to complainant as compensation for harassment and mental agony suffered by him besides Rs.2000/-as litigation expenses. Compliance of this order be made within one month of receipt of copy of this order failing which, complainant shall be entitled to proceed under Section 25 and 27 of the Consumer Protection Act. Copy of order be given to parties free of cost under rules. File be consigned to record room.

Announced in Open Forum

Dated : 31.08.2017       

 

                   Member                             President

                              (P Singla)                       (Ajit Aggarwal)

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