DISTRICT FORUM:: KADAPA Y.S.R DISTRICT
PRESENT SRI P.V. NAGESWARA RAO, M.A., LL.M., PRESIDENT
SRI S.A. KADER BASHA, B.Sc., MEMBER
SMT. K. SIREESHA, B.L. MEMBER.
Monday, 6th September, 2010
CONSUMER COMPLAINT No. 49 / 2010
Sunkireddi Obula Reddy S/o Desai Reddy, 31 years
Hindu, Payasampalli village and post, V.N.Palli Mandal
Kadapa District. ... Complainant
Vs.
1. The D.C.C.Bank,
Rep. by its General Manager,
Railway Station Road,
Kadapa city and district.
2. The Reliance General Insurance Co.Ltd.,
Rep. by its Manager, 4th Floor, Sagar Plaza,
4-1-327 to 337 Abids Road,
Hyderabad. ... Respondents
This complaint coming on this day for final hearing on 3-9-2010 in the presence of Sri M.Ramanjaneya Reddy, Advocate for complainant and Sri D.Rajasekhar Reddy, Advocate for R2 and R1 set as an exparte and upon perusing the material papers on record, the Forum made the following:-
O R D E R
(Per Smt. K. Sireesha, Member),
1. Complaint filed on behalf of the complainant under section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act 1986.
2. The brief facts of the complaint is as follows:- The complainant is the resident of Payasampalli village of V.N.Palli Mandal of Kadapa. The complainant is the son of one Sunkireddi Nagasubbamma and his father Desai Reddy predeceased his mother. The mother of the complainant Nagasubbamma is the member of P.A.C.S of Gonamakulapally which is the branch of R2 and she was received passbook, membership bearing no.578 with G.No.6606 and her life is covered under J.P.A Policy with the second respondent company with policy bearing no.1811-37-30-11-100005 which was in course from 21.10.2007 to 20.10.2008 for an assured amount of Rs.50,000/-. The mother of the complainant Sunkireddi Nagasubbamma met with a road accident on 5.3.2008 at about 10.30 p.m in which one Qualis vehicle bearing no.A.P.04 K 9643 came and dashed her resulting her death, the accident occurred opposite to a petrol bunk situated on Kamalapuram to Kadapa main road. The death is totally accidental. The complainant is entitled to the assured amount of Rs.50,000/- from second respondent company. The complainant is the sole legal hare for the claim. The complainant claimed the said amount through first respondent i.e., General Manager, District Cooperative Central Bank Ltd. The entire records were furnished to the second respondent by the first respondent, the second respondent is delaying in honoring the claim. Since the claim was not honored, the complainant issued a legal notice through his council on 5.2.2010 and they received the same. The respondent company did not give any reply or paid any amount. The complainant suffered a lot with mental agony causing due to the attitude of the second respondent in not honoring the claim. Since the R2 intentionally and have no reason denied the claim of the complainant, he is entitled for interest at of 12% the very purpose of taking the policy is defeated. There is no suspicion and ambiguity in the case of the death of the deceased. Hence the complaint to direct the respondent to pay Rs.50,000/- to the complainant and directed the respondent to pay Rs.10,000/- towards compensation for mental agony caused to the complainant.
3. Counter filed on behalf of the opposite party no.2. The opposite party no.2 submitted that the paras 5, 6, &7 of the complainant are false and invented for the purpose of filing this complaint. The first respondent bank entered with an agreement with the second respondent company of Hyderabad, accordingly the first respondent remitted premium and second respondent office at Hyderabad. The second respondent issued J.P.A Policy bearing no.1811-37-30-11-100005 for the period 21.10.2007 to 20.10.2008 at Hyderabad, in favour of Kadapa District Cooperative Central Bank Ltd., Kadapa. As such the entire transaction in between the first and second respondent occurred only at Hyderabad, therefore there is no cause of action to file this complaint against this respondent at Kadapa itself. So there is no territorial jurisdiction to entertain the complaint. The R2 further submits that “All disputes, differences or claims arising out of this agreements whether during its subsistence or therefore after shall be settled by arbitration in course with the provision of the arbitration and conciliation act or any other statutory modification or re-enactment for the time being imposed and shall be referred to the sole arbitration of the arbitrator to be nominated by the director of the issuer. Award given by such an arbitrator shall be filing and binding on the parties of this agreement, the avenue of the arbitration established at Hyderabad. Therefore the petition is not maintainable in this forum and dismissed against this respondent company.
4. As per the terms and conditions of the policy the written intimation should be given within 30 days of incident and all the documents should be produced within 90 days from the date of accident. The complainant has intimated the death of the deceased after 2 months 25 days and did not submit the required documents till 14.3.2009 to this respondent company. As such the complaint is liable to deceased against R2. The second respondent issued notice on 02.9.2008 and on 16.2.2009 to the first respondent to case provision of documents mentioned in the notice. Such as complete Passbook, Loan ledger, ration card and Voter I.D but the first respondent neither produce the documents nor replied. Neither the first respondent nor the complainant did supply the required documents for appreciation of the claim of the complainant. So the second respondent company closed the claim of the complainant as “No Claim” on 14.3.2009, so the order of NO CLAIM is created. So there is no deficiency of service on the part of the R2 Company. Therefore it is prayed that this Hon’ble Forum may be pleased to dismiss the complainant against R2 with exemplary cost in interest of the justice.
Exhibits marked on behalf of the Complainant:
Ex.A1 P/c of F.I.R
Ex.A2 P/c of Inquest report
Ex.A3 P/c of Postmortem certificate
Ex.A4 P/c of Kisan Credit Card cum Passbook in favour of the deceased
issued by the Secretary Gonumakulapalli P.A.C.S
Ex.A5 P/c of Ledger extract stands in the name of the deceased issued by
Secretary Gonumakulapalli P.A.C.S
Ex.A6 Office copy of the Legal notice dated.05.2.2010
Ex.A7 P/c of Death Certificate issued by V.R.O, Payasampalli,.
Ex.A8 Family member certificate issued by Tahsildar, V.N.Palli,.
Ex.A9 Letter to the Branch Manager, Reliance General Insurance Co. Ltd
issued by the Kadapa Dist. Co-operative Central Bank, dt.20.5.08,.
Ex.A10 Claim form of Janatha Personal Accident Insurance Co. (Reliance
General Insurance) issued by the General Manager Co-operative
Central Bank, Kadapa district, dt.20.5.2010,.
Ex.A11 Petition sent to V.R.O Gonumakulapalli P.A.C.S dt.24.04.2008
Ex.A12 Letter dated 25.4.2008 to the Kadapa District Co-operative Central
Bank issued by Gonumakulapalli P.A.C.S, V.R.O dt.25.4.2008
Ex.A13 Reply letter dt.02.9.2008 to the Dist. Co-operative Central bank
Kadapa from the Reliance General Insurance Co. Ltd,.
Ex.A14 Election Identity Card of the deceased,.
Exhibits marked on behalf of the Respondent:
Ex.B1 P/c of letter dt.02.9.2008 issued by the R2 to R1
Ex.B2 P/c of letter dt.16.2.2009 issued by the R2 to R1
Ex.B3 P/c of letter dt.14.3.2009 issued by the R2 to R1
Issues:
After perusing the above pleadings these points were taken for consideration.
i. Whether the complainant is liable for compensation or not?
ii. Whether there is negligence on the part of the respondents?
iii. To what relief?
Point No.1 & 2: The complainant is the son of late Sunkireddi Nagasubbamma.
The mother of the complainant Nagasubbamma is the member of P.A.C.S Gonamakulapalli. She was issued passbook, membership bearing no.578 with G.No.6606 and her life covered under J.P.A Policy i.e., Ex.A4. The policy was in course from 21.10.2007 to 20.10.2008. The sum assured was Rs.50,000/-. The R2 also defect the same. The R1 set exparte on 2.8.2010, here the role of R1 is only post office services between the complainant and the R2. The proofs of death of the complainant’s mother Ex.A1 to Ex.A3 were filed. Ex.A1 to A3 clearly shows that the death of the complainant’s mother was accidental. Ex.A5 clearly shows that the mother of the complainant was the member of the P.A.C.S Gonamakulapalli. Ex.A8 clearly shows that the complainant is the only legal hare to his deceased mother. Ex.A9 clearly shows that before 20.5.2008 R1 had sent all the relevant documents to R2 to settle the claim amount of Rs.50,000/- of the mother of the complainant. Ex.A10 shows that the claim form was in time. As the R2 stated in his counter of the clients arising out of this agreement shall be settled by arbitration and conciliation act and the award given by the arbitrator shall be final and binding on the parties to the agreement. But arbitration is not a bar to file a complaint before the District Consumer Forum. It seems there is no delay in production of documents within 90 days from the date of accident by the complainant. It clearly shows that there is deficiency of service on the part of the R2. It is the duty of R2 to get all the complete passbook and loan ledger of the bank i.e., R1, as R1 is a post office between the complainant and R2. Documents filed by the R2 i.e., B1 to B3 did not support the case of the R2. So the complainant is entitled for compensation.
Point No. 3: In the result the complaint is allowed directing the R2 to pay the sum assured by the mother of the complainant Rs.50,000/- with interest @ 9% per month from the date of policy till the realization and to pay Rs.10,000/- towards mental agony within 45 days from date of order. The case against R1 is dismissed without costs.
Dictated to the Stenographer, transcribed by him, corrected and pronounced by us in the open forum, this the 6th September, 2010
MEMBER MEMBER PRESIDENT
APPENDIX OF EVIDENCE
Witnesses examined.
For Complainant: NIL For Respondent: NIL
Exhibits marked for Complainant: -
Ex.A1 P/c of F.I.R
Ex.A2 P/c of Inquest report
Ex.A3 P/c of Postmortem certificate
Ex.A4 P/c of Kisan Credit Card cum Passbook in favour of the deceased
issued by the Secretary Gonumakulapalli P.A.C.S
Ex.A5 P/c of Ledger extract stands in the name of the deceased issued by
Secretary Gonumakulapalli P.A.C.S
Ex.A6 Office copy of the Legal notice dated.05.2.2010
Ex.A7 P/c of Death Certificate issued by V.R.O, Payasampalli,.
Ex.A8 Family member certificate issued by Tahsildar, V.N.Palli,.
Ex.A9 Letter to the Branch Manager, Reliance General Insurance Co. Ltd
issued by the Kadapa Dist. Co-operative Central Bank, dt.20.5.08,.
Ex.A10 Claim form of Janatha Personal Accident Insurance Co. (Reliance
General Insurance) issued by the General Manager Co-operative
Central Bank, Kadapa district, dt.20.5.2010,.
Ex.A11 Petition sent to V.R.O Gonumakulapalli P.A.C.S dt.24.04.2008
Ex.A12 Letter dated 25.4.2008 to the Kadapa District Co-operative Central
Bank issued by Gonumakulapalli P.A.C.S, V.R.O dt.25.4.2008
Ex.A13 Reply letter dt.02.9.2008 to the Dist. Co-operative Central bank
Kadapa from the Reliance General Insurance Co. Ltd,.
Ex.A14 Election Identity Card of the deceased,.
Exhibits marked for Respondents: -
Ex.B1 P/c of letter dt.02.9.2008 issued by the R2 to R1
Ex.B2 P/c of letter dt.16.2.2009 issued by the R2 to R1
Ex.B3 P/c of letter dt.14.3.2009 issued by the R2 to R1
MEMBER MEMBER PRESIDENT
Copy to:-
1) Sri M.Ramanjaneya Reddy, Advocate for complainant.
2) The D.C.C.Bank,
Rep. by its General Manager,
Railway Station Road,
Kadapa city and district.
3) Sri D.Rajasekhar Reddy, Advocate for R2.
1) Copy was made ready on :
2) Copy was dispatched on :
3) Copy of delivered to parties :
K.U.M. - - -
