BEFORE THE DISTRICT FORUM:KURNOOL
Present: Sri. S. Chinnaiah, B.A., B.L., I/c.President
And
Smt. C.Preethi, M.A.LL.B., Lady Member
Friday the 23rd day of November 2007
C.C.No. 62/07
U. Rangamma, W/o. Late U.Pedda Rangaiah,
R/o. Chinna Malkapuram (V),Dhone Taluk, Kurnool District. … Complainant
Versus
1. The Branch Manager, Andhra Bank,
Chinna Malkapuram (V) Dhone (M), Kurnool District.
2. Life Insurance Corporation of India,Represented by its Divisional Manager,
2nd Floor Jeevan prakash, Secretariat Road, Hyderabad. … Opposite Parties
This complaint coming on this day for orders in the presence of Sri.A.Prabhakar Reddy, Advocate, Kurnool, for complainant, and Sri.
M. Sanjeeva Reddy, Advocate, Kurnool, for opposite party No.1 and Sri.
I .A. Rama Sastry, Advocate, Kurnool opposite party No.2 and upon perusing the material papers on record, the Forum made the following:-
ORDER
(As per Smt.C.Preethi, Member)
C.C.No.62/07
1. This consumer complaint of the complainant is filed U/S 12 of C.P.Act,1986, seeking a direction on opposite party to pay assured amount of Rs.1 lakh with 18% interest per annum, Rs.10,000/- as compensation, cost of the complaint and any other relief or reliefs which the complainant is entitled in the circumstances of the case.
2. The brief facts of the complainants case is that the complainant is the wife / nominee of Late U.pedda Rangaiah who opened an ABJ account bearing No.8192, which covers the life risk of the account holder to an extent of Rs.1 lakh in case of normal death and Rs.2 lakh in case of accidental death. On 4.9.2006 the policy holder U.Pedda Rangaiah died due to heart stroke and the complainant on 10.10.2006 intimated the death of the policy holder along with death certificate, age certificate, bank pass book and legal heir certificate, but there was no reply from the opposite parties. On 30.3.2007, the complainant issued a remainder letter to both opposite parties as to non settlement of claim, even to the said letter there was no response from the opposite parties. Hence, the complainant was constrained to resort to the forum for reliefs as there is deficiency of service on part of opposite parties for non settlement of her claim.
3. In support of her case the complainant relied on the following documents viz., (1) Xerox copy of death certificate, (2) Xerox copy of first page of pass book of account No.8192 of Andhra Bank, Chinnamalkapur, (3) Xerox copy of letter dated 10.10.2006 of complainant addressed to opposite party No.1, (4) Xerox copy of letter dated 30.3.2007 along with postal receipts addressed to opposite party No.1 and 2, (5) office copy of letter dated 3.10.2007 of complainant addressed to opposite party No.1 and 2, (6) postal receipt No.3577 dated 3.10.2007 and (7) certificate of posting dated 27.9.2007, besides to the sworn affidavit of the complainant in reiteration of her complaint avernments and the above documents are marked as Ex.A1 to A7 for its appreciation in this case.
4. In pursuance to the notice of this forum as to this case of the complainant the opposite party appeared through their standing counsel and filled separate written versions.
5. The written version of opposite party No.1 submits that the deceased Pedda Rangaiah opened an ABJ account bearing No.8192 and the said account holder was covered for Rs.1 lakh in case of normal death and Rs.2 lakh in case of accidental death. On 10.10.2006 the complainant gave a letter as to the death of Pedda Rangaiah without enclosing death certificate, age certificate, bank pass book and legal heir certificate. Then the opposite party No.1 informed the complainant to submit the above documents, there after the opposite party No.1 received the above documents and in turn sent the same to opposite party No.2 for settlement of claim along with claim form. Hence, there is no deficiency of service on part of opposite party No.1 and seeks for the dismissal of complaint with costs.
6. The written version of opposite party No.2 submits that it has covered the risk of the account holders of opposite party No.1 under “Jeevan Abhaya” master policy bearing No. 511172. The deceased U.Pedda Rangaiah was also covered under the above policy. It further submits that opposite party No.1 intimated the death of the U.Pedda Rangaiah and submitted required documents on 30.12.2006. It was observed from the documents that the age of the nominee is in consistent in all the documents. As per bank account the nominee was 30 years, in the declaration form dated 8.12.2003 she was 25 years, and as per certificate issued by MRO – 45 years on 2.12.2006. Therefore, the opposite party No.2 called for school certificate/voters ID card of deceased but no clarification regarding the inconsistent of age was received by opposite party No.2 As the clarification sought in the letter dated 12.1.2007 was not clarified, hence, the
opposite party No.2 could not settle the claim of the complainant and lastly seeks for the dismissal of complaint with costs.
7. In support of his case the opposite party No.2 relied on the following documents viz., (1) letter dated 12.1.2007 of opposite party No.2 to opposite party No.1 and (2) delegation of powers issued by LIC, and opposite party No.1 did not file any documents, besides to the sworn affidavit of opposite party No.2 in reiteration of his written avernments and the above document are marked as Ex.B1 and B2 for its appreciation in this case.
8. Hence, the point for consideration is to what relief the complainant is entitled alleging deficiency of service on part of opposite parties ?.
9. It is the simple case of the complainant that she is the wife/nominee of the deceased U.Pedda Rangaiah who has opened an ABJ account which covers life risk of the account holder,on 4.9.2006. The account holder U.Pedda Rangaiah died due to heart stroke. On the claim preferred by the complainant, the opposite party No.2 addressed a letter dated 12.1.2007 vide Ex.B1 to opposite party No.1 to furnish school certificate / voters Identity card of the deceased and to clarify the discrepancy regarding the age particulars of the nominee mentioned in the account opening form as 30 years, in health declaration form as 25 years, and MRO’s certificate as 45 years. The complainant did not furnish the above particulars to opposite party No.2 as they are not necessary for settlement of the claim and the opposite party No.2 did not settle the claim for want of documents.
10. Now, the only contention of opposite party No.2 is that there are discrepancies in the age particulars of the nominee in the documents submitted, the opposite party No.2 in support of above contention did not choose to brought on record those documents where in consistent age particulars are mentioned. Hence, in the absence of any documents or evidence in support of their contention, the contention of opposite party No.2 remained as plea for plea sake without any proof.
11. There is no dispute that the complainant is not the wife/nominee of the deceased U.Pedda Rangaiah, so far as the opposite party No.2/Insurance Company is concerned, its obligation is only to the nominee and it is the responsibility of the opposite party No.2/Insurance Company to pay policy amount to the nominee only. The legal position is that the opposite party No.2/ Insurance Company is absolved of its liability once the payment of policy amount is made to the nominee. The nominee is the hand which is authorized to receive the policy amount under the claim. Even though there are discrepancies in the age particulars of the nominee, it cannot be a ground for opposite party No.2 for not settling the claim of the complainant, more to the age particulars of the nominee are not at all required for settling the claim, when once the opposite party No.2 accepted the policy at the relevant time accepting the age of the deceased and age of the nominee mentioned in the bank account opening him, now it has to pay the policy amount to the nominee only.
12. When the death of the deceased is not in violation of terms and conditions of the policy and when there is no cogent and substantiative material to disbelieve the complainant as wife/nominee of the deceased, the opposite party No.2 has no other go concept to honour the terms and conditions of the policy in making its due payment to the nominee/complainant. Hence, the act of non settlement of the claim of the complainant by opposite parties as is remaining without any justifiable excuse and the said conduct of opposite party No.2 is certainly amounting to deficiency of service and their by entitling the complainant to the policy amount with interest and costs. Thus the point is found accordingly in favour of the complainant and against the opposite party No.2. As no case is made out against opposite party No.1 is dismissed.
13. In the result, in view of the discussions made above the complaint is allowed directing the opposite party No.2 to pay to the complainant the assured amount of Rs.1,00,000/- with 9% interest P.A from the date of filling of this case i.e., 7.6.2007 till the date of payment along with costs of Rs.1,000/- within a month of receipt of this order. In default the opposite party No.2 shall pay the supra award amount with 12% interest P.A from the date of default till realization.
Dictated to the stenographer, transcribed by her, corrected and pronounced by us in the open Forum on this the 23rd day of November.
Sd/- Sd/-
MEMBER PRESIDENT
APPENDIX OF EVIDENCE
Witnesses Examined
For the complainant :Nil For the opposite parties :Nil
List of exhibits marked for the complainant:-
Ex.A1. Xerox copy of death certificate.
Ex.A2. Xerox copy of first page of pass book of
A/c.No.8192 of Andhra Bank, Chinna Malkapuram.
Ex.A3. Xerox copy of letter, dated 10.10.2006 of complainant
addressed to opposite party No.1.
Ex.A4. Xerox copy of letter, dated 30.3.2007 along with
postal receipts addressed to opposite parties No.1 & 2.
Ex.A5. Office copy of letter, dated 03.10.2007 of complainant
addressed to opposite parties No.1 & 2.
Ex.A6. Postal receipt No.3577, dated 3.10.07.
Ex.A7. Certificate of posting, dated 27.9.07.
List of exhibits marked for the opposite parties:
Ex.B1. Letter, dated 12.1.2007 of opposite party No.2 to
opposite party No.1.
Ex.B2. Delegation of powers issued by LIC.
Sd/- Sd/-
MEMBER PRESIDENT
Copy to:-
1. Sri.A. Prabhakar Reddy, Advocate, Kurnool.
2. Sri.M.Sanjeeva Reddy, Advocate, Kurnool.
3. Sri.I.A.Rama Sastry, Advocate, Kurnool.
Copy was made ready on:
Copy was dispatched on:
Copy was delivered to parties:
