ORAL ORDER
Per – Hon’ble Mr. S. R. Khanzode, Presiding Judicial Member
This consumer complaint pertains to alleged deficiency in service on the part of The New India Assurance Company Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Insurance Company’ for the sake of brevity) for arbitrarily repudiating the insurance claim.
[2] Undisputed facts are that the Complainant, Mr. Hastimal Jain (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Complainant’ for the sake of brevity) is the sole-proprietor of M/s. Jewellery Emporium, which is engaged in retail business of gold and silver ornaments. He has a showroom at Santacruz (East). An insurance cover from the Insurance Company was obtained under the ‘Jeweller’s Block Insurance Policy’ for the period 21/1/1996 to 20/11/1997 and the sum insured was of `23,50,000/-. Said insurance cover was further increased by an amount of `13,00,000/- on 13/5/1997 and an additional insurance premium was accordingly paid. Thus, the total insurance cover available was of `36,50,000/-. On 3/6/1997, there was an incident of house-breaking and gold jewellery and cash amounting to `34,97,540/- was stolen. Said event was reported to Vakola Police Station and on the basis of which a First Investigation Report (FIR) vide Crime No.328 of 1997 was registered on the same day. Event was also reported to the Insurance Company who deputed a Surveyor, M/s. Parimal R. Shah & Company to assess the loss. Further, an investigator, Mr. Rajan Iyer was also appointed by the Insurance Company. ‘A’ Summary was filed by the police on 20/11/1997 since they failed to trace the culprits. However, the Insurance Company failed to settle the insurance claim for a long time. Thereafter, by way of settlement the Insurance Company paid to the Complainant an amount of `32,45,986/- by a cheque dated 20/10/1998. Attributing negligence on the part of the Insurance Company to settle the claim at an early date and related deficiency in service, the Complainant claimed `6,32,967/-by way of interest @ 18% p.a. on the settlement amount of `32,45,986/- for the period 21/9/1997 to 20/10/1998 and also further claimed `50,000/- by way of compensation and damages for mental agony and harassment in running from pillar to post. Consumer complaint is filed accordingly to recover these amounts.
[3] We heard Adv. S. N. Chataule advocate proxy for Adv. Harshad Trivedi on behalf of the Complainant and Adv. M. G. Barve on behalf of the Opponent. Perused the material placed on the record.
[4] It is the case of the Insurance Company that while receiving the amount of settlement of insurance claim of `32,45,986/- on 20/10/1998, the Complainant settled it as full and final settlement. There was in fact, no delay in settling the claim and the Complainant signed the discharge voucher accordingly. Referring to the Discharge Voucher, a copy of which is placed on the record and which is an undisputed document, it can be seen that the Complainant endorsed on it as “Full & Final Settlement ”. Thus, the settlement amount was received by the Complainant voluntarily and without any protest. Under the circumstances to raise a further grievance in respect of delay in settlement of the claim and, therefore, claiming interest over it would not survive. It no more remain as a ‘consumer dispute’ once the claim was settled and payment was made/received. No deficiency in service on the part of the Insurance Company also could be alleged once the claim was finally settled and the amount was accepted voluntarily and without any protest by the Complainant. We hold accordingly and pass the following order:-
ORDER
The complaint stands dismissed.
Complainant shall bear his own costs and shall pay costs of `5,000/- to the Opponent.
Pronounced on 05th March, 2013
