Hon'ble Mrs. Rumpa Mandal, Member.

The allegation of deprivation in granting death claim of insurance by OP to the Complainant brought him to take recourse of this Commission for redressal of his grievance. In order to highlight the basic fact of the case let us project it in a few words to the effect that the Complainants are the legal hires of deceased borrower of Makbul Hossain and Complainant No.1 & 2 are the Co-borrower of the loan granted by the OP being loan A/C No.3516210180000004 vide application No.35160000195 and which was sanctioned on 26.06.19 amounting to Rs.12,00,000/- with tenure of 72 months with EMI of Rs.21,622/-. At the time of disbursement of loan OP already received the amount of Rs.77,502.40/- and issue the sanction letter. The loan borrowers paid EMI but unfortunately the principal borrower viz Mokbul Hossain died on 14.07.20 due to illness. After death of principal borrower the death certificate was placed before the OP and claimed life insurance of deceased Mokbul Hossain by the Complainant No.1. Then OP assured that within very short period the life insurance claim was disbursed in her loan account. But OP did not disburse the life insurance claim as well as till today OP did not supply Life Insurance policy of the deceased. The OP received premium from the deceased at the time of loan disbursement but illegally did not deposit any insurance premium to any insurance Company.

On 11.07.19 OP issued a letter to principal borrower regarding loan agreement mentioning there that the borrower shall repay the full and the entire premium of insurance policies will be borne by the borrower and will be deducted by setting off the loan at the time of disbursement. But due to non-disbursement of insurance claim on 04.04.2022 Complainant No.1 sent R.T.I to the OP. But OP intentionally neglected the answers and subsequently on 05.04.2022 all the Complainants sent Lawyers notice but after receiving Lawyers notice OP till today did not reply the same. The Complainant legally entitled to get life insurance claim against the death person i.e. principal borrower as well as co-borrower should be entitled to NOC of above loan. Thus the act of the OP regarding the said repudiation tantamount to deficiency in service against which the Complainant sustained financial loss. The Complainant, therefore prayed for an award of Rs.12,00,000/- i.e. loan amount to the deceased and the Complainant also prayed for issuing NOC in favour of the Complainant and the Complainant further prayed for Rs.5 Lakhs for mental pain and agony and for litigation cost of Rs.30,000/-.

The OP did not appear in this case and did not prefer to contest the case for which this Commission by its order No.03 dated 04.07.2022 decided to hear the case ex-parte against the OP.

The Complainant in order to establish the claim adduced evidence on affidavit and documents before this Commission.

Perused the pleadings of the Complainant and the documents in the case record. Heard the argument advanced by Ld. Advocate for the Complainant. The statements made in the evidence on affidavit are absolutely in consonance with the averments made in the complaint petition.

The OP did not controvert the specific allegation of the Complainant in his complaint, since the OP decided not the contest the case and did not file any written version, evidence on affidavit and written argument.

Annexure-A is the sanction letter which was issued by OP. On the basis of sanction letter OP granted loan to the principal borrower and the co-borrower. At the time of disbursement of loan OP received Rs.77,502.40/-. But OP did not submit any document against this document. So, it is established from the Complainant’s document that a reasonable inference is drawn and it is successfully proved the case as a consumer against the OP.

Annexure-B is the death certificate of principal borrower. Annexure-C is the pass book of Small Finance Bank where there is mentioned that Mokbul Hossain is the principal borrower and there is also customer ID number and account number mentioned. In the pass book there is another entry i.e. Rs.41,984/-. On 25.09.20 the amount which was refunded by the OP to the Complainant. The amount of Rs.41,984/- which was taken from the Complainant at the time of sanction of loan and the OP received premium from the deceased at the time of loan disbursement but OP illegally did not deposit any insurance premium to any insurance company.

As per terms and conditions of loan, OP issued a letter dated 11.07.19 to Mukbul Hossain i.e. principal borrower regarding disbursement of business loan secured to his bank account. But as per Annexure-D, OP informed to Complainant that the loan was sanctioned and within a short period the loan amount will be disbursed in Complainant’s bank account. The entire premium of the insurance policies will be borne by the borrower and will be deducted by setting off the loan at the time of disbursement. But OP refund the amount which the Complainant was paid at the time of sanctioning the loan. So, the OP did not pay the life insurance claim as well as OP did not supply life insurance policy of the deceased.

As per Annexure-E Complainant files a copy of loan agreement in the loan agreement it is specifically mentioned that if borrower is a proprietorship, the proprietor shall obtain a life insurance cover. But the OP did not follow the clause of the loan agreement.

After that, Complainant file RTI on 04.04.2022 to the OP, but OP did not supply the Annexures and subsequently on 05.04.2022 all the Complainant’s sent Lawyers notice and after receiving Lawyers notice OP till today did not reply against the notice.

After perusing the documents adduced in evidence by the Complainant it transpires that Annexure-E is the document of RTI where Complainant wanted to know some facts but OP did not reply the same. It is also found that OP did not issue any life insurance policy of the deceased. So he did not supply the same to the Complainant. From the pass book it also proved that life insurance premium was not paid by the OP.

The entire oral and documentary evidence of the Complainant could not be disproved since the case is heard ex-parte.

In the light of the aforesaid discussion and observation made in the foregoing paragraphs a reasonable inference is drawn that the Complainant successfully proved the case as consumer against the OP and the OP is under deficiency in service as well as malpractice. So, the OP should be considered as caused deficiency in service which caused mental pain and agony.

Accordingly, the case of the Complainant succeeds ex-parte against the OP.

Hence, it is

Ordered

That the Complaint case be and the same is allowed ex-parte with cost.

The Complainant do get an award for a direction to the OP to pay Life Insurance claim amount of Rs.12,00,000/- i.e. loan amount to the deceased loan amount and also directed to OP to issue NOC in favour of the Complainant.

The OP is further directed to pay Rs.5 Lakhs for deficiency in service as well as mental pain and agony and for cost of proceeding of Rs.20,000/- total Rs.17,20,000/- (Seventeen Lakhs Twenty thousand) only within 30 days from the  date of passing the Final Order to the Complainant failing which the OP shall pay  an interest of 6% per annum on the awarded sum. The Op is further directed to issue NOC in favour of the Complainant within one month from the date of passing the order in favour of the Complainant i/d the Complainant shall be entitled to execute the award as per provisions of law.

Let plain copy of this order be supplied to the parties concerned by hand/by post forthwith, free of cost for information and necessary action, if any.

The copy of the Final Order is also available in the official Website www.confonet.nic.in.

Dictated and corrected by me.